Celebrating 125 Years of community leadership
During Women’s History Month in March 2025, we are proud to celebrate a 125-year milestone in the Harry & Rose Samson Family JCC’s commitment to serving Milwaukee’s Jewish community.
March 27, 1900, The Settlement organization was formed by Lizzie Kander and a leadership team of strong Jewish women. The Settlement evolved to become the Jewish Center, then the Jewish Community Center, and today is known as the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center.
After five years (1895-1900) of operating the Jewish Mission in their synagogue basements and vestry rooms, Lizzie Kander and the women of the Mission took action to form The Settlement and bring their work closer to the Russian Jewish community they served, who primarily lived in Milwaukee’s Second Ward Haymarket District.
Immediately after forming The Settlement organization, they started a fundraising campaign, and less than two months later, a house at Fifth & Galena was leased for a term of two years with rent of $30 a month. The total cost of maintaining the Settlement the first year was approximately $800. Memberships at the time were offered in three categories: Patrons, $25 or more yearly; honorary members, $5 or more yearly; and members $1 or more.
The Settlement House had an immediate impact in the Haymarket District, hosting programs and activities for children and adults from 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM almost every day of the week. It also housed a penny savings bank and a public library branch. The work of the Settlement was praised by social service experts across the country.
To ensure the continued survival of the Settlement, Lizzie Kander created and published the now famous Settlement Cookbook, a sustaining source of revenue that carried the agency for decades to come.
The original leaders of the Milwaukee Settlement House are listed in historical documents according to the custom of the time – with their husband’s names in place of their own first names.
As an agency that has a long history of strong women leaders, and is currently led by a female board chair, we share this list in the last days of Women’s History Month with the hope that relatives and historians can help us identify first names for the remainder of the list beyond our beloved founder, Lizzie Kander.
MARCH 27, 1900 – The first officers of the Settlement: President, Mrs. Simon (Lizzie) Kander; first vice-president, Mrs. Sam Hammerschlag; second vice-president, Mrs. Elias Friend; secretary, Mrs. Frank Thannhouser; treasurer, Mrs. Edward Fischer; auditor, Mrs. J.M. Pereles.
The first board of directors: Mrs. Joseph Friedberg, Mrs. Wm. Baum, Miss Jennie Mahler, Mrs. Henry Schoenfeld, Mrs. S.R. Levy, Miss Addie Wolf, Miss Edith Rich, Mrs. George Pick, and Rabbi Julius H. Meyer.
May their memories be a blessing.
Did you know the JCC offers a college scholarship each year named for Lizzie Kander? Click here to learn more about the Lizzie Kander Heart of Community Scholarship.
