Northside Settlement Services records

Northside Settlement Services Inc. (NSSI) was formed in 1967 by the merger of Wells Memorial House and Unity House settlements in Minneapolis, MN.

Wells Memorial House was established in 1906 by St. Mark’s Episcopal Church as a religious and social mission. St. Mark’s parishioners helped subsidize the work until 1919 when the Minneapolis Community Chest began to provide financing.

In 1930, the Wells Memorial House was incorporated with an independent board, though membership quotas and board-run trust funds continued to connect the settlement to St. Mark’s.

Unity House was started in a north Minneapolis in 1897 by Dr. and Mrs. Marian Shutter, members of the First Universalist Society of Minneapolis, and other religious leaders. It was incorporated in 1901 and supported through congregational donations until 1918, when it became a member of the local Community Chest and from fees, donations, and income from an endowment fund.

Programs at both settlements began to change in the 1950s. Wells Memorial House sold its building and turned to decentralized offices to deliver services to the predominantly African American Glenwood area. Unity House sold its building in 1968 as residential areas were replaced by commercial and industrial development and the construction of highways separated the settlement from much of its community.

In 1967, Wells Memorial and Unity House merged to form Northside Settlement Services, Inc. (NSSI). By 1969, the agency had opened four branches: Unity Branch, Glenwood Branch, Girard Branch, and Oliver Branch. The NSSI board of directors adopted a non-discrimination policy and attempted to recruit a more diverse staff and board. New projects included Glenwood Community Center pre-school, youth employment, tutoring, transportation programs, and the IT (Involved Teen) Center. Agency personnel worked closely with other community organizations and government agencies.

In 1971, NSSI purchased the Fremont Tabernacle to use as an office and began to operate Fremont Clinic, a community medical service. Other programs begun in the early 1970s were United Seniors, a free Northside newspaper’ Unity Alternative School; a preschool program, a federal credit union, a drug abuse program (Parachute), and a health maintenance organization.

In 1984, Northside Neighborhood Services merged with Pillsbury-Waite Neighborhood Services to form Pillsbury United Neighborhood Service, which became Pillsbury United Communities in 2001.

Information in this note comes from the following sources:

Northside Settlement Services, Inc. finding aid, Social Welfare History Archives, 1980

“Pillsbury United Communities: Our History.” Https://Pillsburyunited.org/about/History/#1581709000344-d919648a-0077, Pillsbury United Communities, 2020, pillsburyunited.org/about/history/#1581709000344-d919648a-0077.