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The North Bennet Street School

The North Bennet Street School was founded in 1885.

Historical Context:
In the century between 1820 and 1920, an estimated 34 million immigrants come to America. Many of the arrived in New England. By 1920, a full 25 percent of New England's population was foreign-born. The ethnic groups that stayed in the Boston area and changed the face of the city were primarily Irish, Canadian, and Italian.

When the North Bennet Street Industrial School was established in Boston's North End in 1885, the neighborhood was amoung the most densely populated areas in the United States. Low-rent tenements near the docks of the North End had been drawing immigrants for generations. The Irish began settling the area in hte 1820s. As the 19th century drew to a close, Italian immigrants surpassed the Irish. Between 1880 and 1910, the immigrant population of the North End shifted from 90 percent Irish to 80 percent Italian. Eastern European Jews and Portuguese were also settling in the area, but in smaller numbers.

Holistic Approch
The North Bennet Street Industrial School (NBSIS), as it was originally known, pioneered a "holistic" approch to community service a century before the term became popular. The School's 1885 charter defines NBSIS as "an institution for training in industrial occupations persons of all ages, and for othe educational and charitable work, and for furnishing opportunities for instruction and amusement to them, including libraries, reading rooms and whatever else may contribute to their physical and moral well being."