In 1893 Lillian Wald "settles in" on the Lower East Side to care for the poor. Wald's philosophy establishes Henry Street as a national leader in service to children, families, and the poor.
In 1895 Wald moves to a red brick Georgian house on 265 Henry Street during the summer. The building is a gift from philanthropist Jacob Schiff, who purchased the property earlier that spring and arranged for its repair and furnishing.
The Henry Street Settlement stands in the center of perhaps the most populated neighborhood in the world. Roughly 500,000 people are packed into an area only as large as a midsized Kansas farm. Population density is about 500 per acre. A single city block might have as many as 3,000 residents.
In 1902 the Settlement opened one of New York City's earliest playgrounds in Henry Street's backyard to provide a safe environment for children forced to play in crowded and unsafe city streets.
The Henry Street Settlement House has become a model for a new kind of reform community composed essentially of college-education women who encourage and support one another in a wide variety of philanthropic, civic, political, and cultural activities.