History

The Progressive Era
Although they both grew up in Kentucky, the Settlement School's founders May Stone and Katherine Pettit were part of a national political and social movement called Progressivism that began in the 1890s and continued until the First World War. The women visited and modeled Hindman Settlement School after urban settlement houses like Jane Addam’s Hull House in Chicago, Lillian Wald’s Henry Street Settlement in New York and Neighborhood House in Louisville, Kentucky. They also visited a number of other institutions including Berea College, Hampton Institute and Elizabeth Russell Settlement at Tuskegee, Alabama.

The Settlement Idea
The “settlement idea,” was “for the social classes to know each other, to educate each other and to work together for the improvement of the neighborhood.” Katherine Pettit clearly endorsed this idea, stating their goal at Hindman was, “To learn all we can and teach all we can.”
 Pettit left Hindman in 1912 to start Pine Mountain Settlement School but that philosophy has remained a part of Hindman's approach to education.

Hindman Settlement School was the forerunner of the public school system in this remote area. With the school, Stone and Pettit introduced two new educational ideas, industrial education and kindergarten, both previously unknown in the area.

In 1930, the Settlement School donated land and a majority of the funds needed for Knott County to build and open the new Hindman High School. The Settlement continued to provide industrial education, music and recreation but also moved into serving other areas of educational need.

The Settlement School has always focused on meeting needs that are not being met. Its ability to learn from and adapt to changing circumstances has helped it survive when many other settlement schools failed. This approach has also kept the Settlement’s work rooted in the communities it serves.