National Council of Jewish Women Seattle Section records, 1900-2019

The Council of Jewish Women, Seattle Section, was founded in 1900 as a philanthropic organization. In the first half of the century the organization maintained a settlement house to help indigent Jewish immigrants meet some of their basic needs, assimilate to American culture, and maintain a social center for their community. By the 1950s the neighborhood that the Council served had lost most of its Jewish residents, so the Council pulled out of that area and re-focused its programs on Seattle’s Jewish community and the elderly.

Shortly after its founding, the Council began visiting Jewish patients in hospitals, sewing clothes for the needy, sending flowers to families of deceased Jews, looking after graves, and running a children’s sewing school. Soon the Council began work implementing a more ambitious plan of establishing its Settlement House, modeled on Jane Addams’s Hull House in Chicago. The Settlement House served poor Jewish immigrants, most of whom came from eastern Europe and were living near Yesler Way. The Council rented a building for the House, but soon outgrew its space, so in 1907 moved to a new location in the same district.

At the Settlement House, the Council tried to help immigrants gain a foothold in the US by providing basic services such as clothing, public baths, and a medical and dental clinic, but there also were educational programs designed to “Americanize” the newcomers. The Settlement House gave classes to teach English and prepare immigrants to apply for citizenship, but most of the Americanization program was done through informal social gatherings. The Settlement House became a social center for the immigrant Jewish community, with a large ballroom for weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, amateur theater, and dances. The House also offered Jewish children instruction in piano, violin, ballet, and folk dancing.

In 1916 the Settlement House moved again, this time to its permanent home at 18th and Main, and shortly after was renamed the Educational Center. At the new location the facility had more space to accommodate the influx of Jewish refugees from World War I. In the early years of World War II the Center’s role as a haven for refugees became even more important, as Seattle became one of the only ports for refugees to enter the US. Beginning in 1937, the Council made special efforts to aid Jewish children who had escaped from the persecution in Germany. Much of the aid work during this period and afterwards was done by the Evening Group, which was a Council social organization for professional women. In the 1950s the group changed its name to the Evening Branch, and in 1982 it became the Shalom Branch.

The end of World War II marked the end of the immigrant era for the Council. By this time most Jews had moved away from the area near the Educational Center. The Educational Center, renamed Neighborhood House in 1948, began helping other minority groups that were experiencing inner-city problems. The House focused especially on youth and the problems associated with juvenile delinquency. In the 1950s the Board of Neighborhood House began to include members from other groups in the community, and it was expected that soon the House would become independent and the Council would donate the building to continue the programs it had started. However, rather than donate the building to Neighborhood House, the Council unexpectedly sold it to a bakery, leaving the House without any facilities. Members of Neighborhood House Board then organized themselves independently from the Council and established a new Neighborhood House in the Yesler Terrace housing project.

While the 1950s marked the end of the Council’s affiliation with Neighborhood House, it marked the beginning of other projects. In 1956 the Council started the Golden Age Club to provide social functions and entertainment for Jewish elderly. In the same year, the Council opened its Thrift Shop in Pike Place Market to raise money.

In the 1970s the Center once again expanded its philanthropic activity. In 1972 it opened Council House to accommodate low-income elderly. The Council’s Future Planning Committee originally hoped to open the House for Jewish elderly, but to get federal funds it had to make the facility non-sectarian. HUD provided money to build the House and the Council raised money itself to furnish the interior. At Council House, which is a high rise building on top of Capitol Hill, some residents receive subsidies so that their rent does not exceed thirty percent of their income.

Other programs were also added in the 1970s and 80s. In 1979 the Council organized the Po’olot Group for young working women. In 1983, the Council opened a Jewish bookstore called Books Mercaz in cooperation with other Jewish groups, which also served as a meeting place for unaffiliated members of the Jewish community. However, the store soon became independent from the Council, then closed in 1985 because it failed to make a profit.