Eastern European Jews immigrated to America primarily between 1880-1920. Many had come because they felt threatened or endangered in Europe when the pogroms began. Each immigrant approached America differently; some were optimistic and willing to accommodate to the New World, but others longed to rediscover the security of the shtetls that they had had to abandon in the Old Country.

Jews against assimilation generally formed landsmanshaftn, societies where people united who had come from the same towns or regions in Europe. These were ideal for people who resisted conforming to the American way of life. These landsmanshaftn functioned similarly to the shtetls in Europe. The societies were intimate, they reconnected friends and family, and most importantly they prolonged the survival of the Jewish culture in America. These organizations were also valuable because they provided aid and mutual assistance. Landsleits, the people that formed these landsmanshaftn, helped each other to find jobs, to ensure that the community was in good health, and when the time came, to provide a burial plot that kept all the members of the society together, even in death.

In 1886, the University Settlement, attributed as the first Settlement House in the United States, was created on the Lower East Side. It was originally founded by Stanton Colt as the Neighborhood Guild until the name was changed. The Settlement House offered a range of classes for the immigrant population and had facilities like a library, bath house, and kindergarten. This organization was significant because it inspired many of the Settlement Houses that later popped up throughout the Lower East Side, catered towards helping immigrants ready to assimilate.