A Home with No Borders since 1870

Erie Neighborhood House (then Erie Chapel) was a member of the Chicago Federation of Settlement Houses, a network that was founded by Hull House in 1894. Today it is the oldest settlement house agency still operating in Chicago.

Florence Towne, who earned the nickname "Angel of the Alleys" because of her work in the neighborhood, arrived at Erie House in 1914. She worked (and lived) at Erie House until her death in 1951. Today the main room used by the School-Age program is named Towne Hall in her honor. 

The Works Progress Administration (WPA) assigned as many as 50 individuals to Erie House during the Great Depression to work in the West Town neighborhood.

West Town has a rich cultural history, evolving from a Dutch community to a blend of European immigrants—first Germans and Scandinavians, followed by Italians and Poles, and later Ukrainians, Greeks, and Armenians—to a destination for both white and black households from the South during the Great Migration. Puerto Ricans began migrating to the area in the 1950s, who were soon followed by Mexican immigrants, as West Town became distinctively Latino neighborhood by the 1960s.