This chapter provides a brief transnational history of the Settlement House Movement. It develops the argument that the settlements houses contributed to the transnational advancement of the nation in form of the national welfare state by interpreting and tackling the social question as a crisis of a (national) community. Against the background of two major social developments (secularisation and scientisation), it shows how settlement knowledge was translated to different social contexts and proved to be flexibel enough to transcend various social boundaries (class, knowledge etc.) and transform society