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House of Industry, 714-16 Catherine Street, Philadelphia, PA, circa 1870.
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Credit: Free Library of Philadelphia

Founded in 1846 by the Philadelphia Society for Employment & Instruction of the Poor, the House of Industry began as a working shelter where the homeless and immigrants, most of them from the British Isles, made shoes, clothing, rugs, baskets and brushes. When Italian immigrants mobbed into the area, the House of Industry shifted its focus to classes in English and citizenship.

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