A crowd of Hill District youngsters waits impatiently as Sidney Teller, director of the Irene Kaufmann Settlement, cuts the ribbon on a playground filled with slides and swings. The May 1937 image is from The Pittsburgh Press
This is how the Irene Kaufmann Settlement in the Hill District looked on July 12, 1929.
In this 1938 picture, Dolores Antonacci tends flowers outside the Irene Kaufmann Settlement, just blocks from the city’s skyscrapers.
This 1952 photo shows Mrs. Anna Laufe Perlow, in her 30th year as director of the Irene Kaufmann Settlement Music School. At the piano are her pupils, 10-year-old Sue Lindenberg of 1835 Centre Ave. and Julius Hart, 12, of 9 Kearney Way.
Sidney Teller, director of the Irene Kaufmann Settlement, presents an American flag to Rose Mary Rondonella, one of the 62 children who won prizes in a competition to beautify back yards by planting flower and vegetable gardens in their neighborhood.
From left to right, David Fineman, Saul Pomerantz and Donald Exler demonstrate their whistling abilities during a dance carnival at the Irene Kaufmann Settlement in the Hill District. The picture was taken in August of 1940.
Hill District youngsters enjoy the playground at the Irene Kaufmann Settlement.
The Hill House Association, Kaufmann Building and the Irene Kaufmann Auditorium has undergone renovation. It is now the Elsie H. Hillman Theater in the Hill District on Centre Avenue. (Bill Wade/Post-Gazette)
The Hill House Association, Kaufmann Building and the Irene Kaufmann Auditorium has undergone renovation. It is now the Elsie H. Hillman Theater in the Hill District on Centre Avenue. (Bill Wade/Post-Gazette)
For immigrants in the Hill District, the place to be was the Irene Kaufmann Settlement.
From the late 1800s through the first half of the 20th century, the IKS, affectionately called the “ikes,” began as a school where Jewish children could learn to speak English. And when lessons were finished, there was a playground with slides and swings for blowing off steam.
The school grew rapidly and its teachers soon taught immigrant parents about pre-natal nursing and helped them become U.S. citizens. The “ikes” also offered a library, an array of athletic teams, arts programs and clubs for nearly every age group and interest.
By 1929, the settlement house had 60 staff members, 20 of whom lived in the settlement building. Another 100 people served as volunteers. The first resident director was Sidney A. Teller.
Staff members of the IKS found ways to eliminate the spread of influenza and typhus and also led the way in clearing slums and promoting low-cost housing. Other initiatives included a free milk program for children, free kindergarten and scholarships.
Many students of Anna Perlow, who taught music, and Samuel Rosenberg, who taught art, became successful musicians or artists.
In 1957, the IKS was renamed the Anna B. Heldman Community Center, which was demolished in 1964. The Irene Kaufmann auditorium remained and was restored and reopened in 2011 as the Elsie H. Hillman Theater.
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Wonderful story and photos. Priceless. Thank you and keep em coming :)
What a treasure trove, we love it, keep them available, maybe as a feature story on the internet. I’m a newbie, but found this, so I will keep looking. Also enjoy Marylynne’s work. Thanks
Wonderful…and so much more….I attended the IKS while I lived in Terrace Village (subsidized housing) and attended and graduated Miller School. I took piano lessons from Ms Perlow. I took dancing lessons from Ms Belle. I learned to swim by being thrown into the pool. The IKS served my Mother, an immigrant, to adjust to this country….then my two older brothers (now deceased) took swimming and took part in athletics there. Among my many memories including the Roosevelt and New Granada Theatres, the Jewish Theatre, and shoemaker, baker, and kosher shops all up and down Center Avenue. Carnegie Library on Wylie Avenue ….et al. Many many memories of the Hill and especial good memories of the IKS.
My Uncle John Lysko (deceased) was boxing at the Irene Kaufman Center/Irene Kaufman Settlement around Dec. 12, 1946 per an old article in the Pittsburgh Press. The article says he was competing in a Boxing Tourney held by the Allegheny Mountain Assn. I am trying to find photographs of him from his boxing days to give to his daughter who has very few photographs of her Father. We are of the Pittsburgh-area Lysko descendants of Ukrainian/Jewish/Polish heritage. John Lysko was born in McKees Rocks PA & his parents spoke Ukrainian. I can be reached at: lannytops@gmail if anyone has leads how I can get photographs.
I learned to swim there (on my own) while my dad, Mel Nash, taught diving there Sunday afternoons in the mid50s. I loved that building. I remember it having an old, but beautiful interior. I thought it a great loss when that pool went away.