The Music Settlement has been a community anchor for more than a century. The community music school forged out of the Settlement Movement was created as a way to welcome immigrants to Cleveland and unite them through the common language of music.

Known today as The Music Settlement, TMS was incorporated on April 25, 1912 as the Cleveland Music School Settlement with fifty students, designed to provide free or inexpensive musical training for the children of wage earners of Cleveland's newly arriving immigrant population. We have since grown to one of the largest schools of our kind in the United States, serving thousands of students annually, and awarding generous scholarships and financial aid. 

Inspired by similar Settlement Houses, Almeda C. Adams, a blind musician, founded the Settlement with the help of Adella Prentiss Hughes and the Fortnightly Music Club's initial $1,000 donation. Within a few years, enrollment more than tripled, forcing TMS to move several times to accommodate growing class sizes. By 1938, we had found our way from our original location at The Goodrich House to the 42-room home of Edmund S. Burke, the then director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. The Burke Estate at 11125 Magnolia Drive remains home to our historic University Circle campus, which now encompasses five buildings across more than 56,000 square feet.

Almeda C. Adams (February 26, 1865 – September 8, 1949) was a musician, teacher, and leader. Adams was dedicated to making music instruction available to children and adults and focused on making lessons and other services accessible to all. From our inception, our school provided free and low-cost instruction to better serve the Cleveland community.  Along with this establishment, Adams also directed the Schumann Society from 1918 to 1931, which was a choral group for working girls. We continue to passionately serve our community in Almeda's footsteps.

Learn more about Almeda's history here.