Four hundred Catholic women from across Minnesota gathered for a banquet at the St. Paul Hotel on Thursday, Nov. 5, 1931.

This was the conclusion of two days of presentations and prayer in St. Paul with a focus on ways women could serve their communities.

As delegates at the 11th annual meeting of the Minnesota Council of Catholic Women, they represented over 40,000 members from across the state who were part of women’s groups in their local communities. In their local parishes, these women were part of groups called the Daughters of Isabella, Women’s Catholic Order of Foresters, Catholic Big Sisters, Joan of Arc Club, Sodality of Our Lady, and many others.

The Christ Child Society in St. Paul was one such group. A national organization of Catholic young women interested in social work, the St. Paul chapter had 350 members in the 1930s. Their main project was a settlement house in the Railroad Island neighborhood where they supported medical and dental clinics, knitted layette sets for newborns, conducted classes and raised funds for kids to go to summer camp. In addition to service, regular society meetings and fundraising events provided plenty of opportunities for socialization among the young women. Teas and bridge parties were regular group events, and guest speakers shared information on topics of interest. One such presentation was on “the news of the day” by Minneapolis reporter Val Bjornson (an Icelandic Lutheran).

While the women of the society were generally well-off and came from across St. Paul, the Christ Child Settlement House at 515 Partridge Street (near what is now the intersection of Payne Avenue and Kenny Road) served the locals — mostly recent immigrants from Italy who attended the nearby Italian mission parish, St. Ambrose. Children at the settlement house played basketball in the gym in their stocking feet because they could not afford shoes, and they spoke in English because they could not understand each other’s Italian.

The Settlement House had programs for the whole family, too. At the conclusion of World War II, the neighborhood gathered there to celebrate. Children prepared a “Victory Program” with the girls dressed as Red Cross nurses and the boys in military uniforms. The children presented folk dances from all the allied nations, and the mayor came to honor the neighborhood’s seven “four-star mothers,” each of whom had four sons in the war. Altogether, the Christ Child House served about 1,200 neighbors with food, medical care and entertainment, as needed.

In 1961, the Christ Child Society broke ground on a new building in the neighborhood at 715 Edgerton St. and chose a new name for the new building — Merrick Settlement House. This new name recognized Mary Virginia Merrick, the founder of the national Christ Child Society. Merrick had wanted to join the Sisters of Charity but was rejected because she used a wheelchair. She thought of the babies and mothers she could help and started her own service organization instead.

Today, Merrick Community Services is still serving individuals and families in poverty on St. Paul’s East Side, from its headquarters near Phalen Regional Park. However, it officially separated from the national Christ Child Society in 1990 and is no longer affiliated with the Catholic Church. The settlement house at 515 Partridge no longer exists, but the one at 715 Edgerton in the Railroad Island neighborhood near Swede Hollow Park is home to other organizations still serving the area.

Luiken is a Catholic and a historian with a doctorate from the University of Minnesota. She loves exploring and sharing the hidden histories that touch our lives every day.