One of the premier social service agencies in the nation, Firman Community Services was founded in November 1872 as an outreach mission of the Clinton Street Church, Harrison Street Mission, and 12th Street Mission. From these three organizations, the Ewing Street Congregational Church was founded and the outreach mission moved to the old river ward on Chicago's West Side. Over a period of time, Ewing's congregation began to falter. So in 1910, the Second Church of Oak Park, assisted by the Chicago Missionary Society, continued the missionary work and enacted measures to formalize their efforts. Ewing parishioner Douglas Winfield Firman took on the work so enthusiastically that both a church and the mission unit were named in his honor. On November 11, 1927, "Firman House" became a structured, self-identified agency, complete with a constitution. As such, Firman Community Services is the oldest settlement house in Illinois and the second oldest in the United States.

At the turn of the century, Firman was again at the forefront of providing service -- first with European immigrants and later with Southern African-American migrants. As large waves of these groups began moving to Chicago to take advantage of industrial jobs, promises of freedom and a "better life," Firman acted as a catalyst to help these newcomers become acclimated to the city through transitional housing, health, and employment support as well as educational programs.

During the 20th century, Firman's neighborhood agenda broadened to meet the challenges of an economy changed by the Depression, New Deal legislation, and two world wars. Its service population, consisting of poor immigrants and racial minorities, flocked to public housing projects, tenements, and kitchenette apartments, seeking freedom from European tyranny and Southern Jim Crow laws. In 1948, Firman relocated to Fuller Park, in the very heart of the inner city, and where its Administrative Offices remain to this day. As ethnic Europeans moved away from near South Side neighborhoods in the 1950s and 1960s, the communities became nearly 100% African-American. In response, Firman extended its services by providing newer, more intense responses and by establishing a satellite office in the Robert Taylor Homes in 1962-- a year before the complex was completed positioning itself to meet the needs of yet another community. The Community Services in the agency's name was added in 1969 in order to reflect Firman's broad scope of services.