The daughter of a well-to-do Illinois businessman, Jane often went with her father on his trips to the mills that he owned. One day in 1867 when Jane was 7, her father had business in the town of Freeport. The mill was adjacent (next) to the poorest section of town. As their horse and carriage turned into the street, Jane saw rows of run-down houses crowded one beside the other. Children dressed in ragged, dirty clothing played in the streets. Jane had never seen such a place before. Her family lived in a large house in the country. She always had clean clothes to wear and plenty of open space to play in. Jane's childhood experiences taught her the importance of helping those worse off than herself. Her mother died when Jane was two; later, a bout with tuberculosis left the girl with a deformed spine. Growing up motherless and physically disabled made her sympathetic to other disadvantaged people. In 1888, Addams visited Toynbee Hall in London, England. Operated by Oxford University students, Toynbee Hall served one of London's poorest neighborhoods. It offered recreation and educational programs to the poor. Addams left England determined to set up a similar "settlement house" (community center) in the United States. The Beginning of Hull House In 1889, she and a friend, Ellen Gates Starr, rented a run-down mansion that once had belonged to a man named Charles Hull. The house stood in one of Chicago's industrial areas. Many European immigrants who had come to the U.S. seeking a better life, lived in the neighborhood. They spoke little, if any, English and lived in crowded, dirty tenements. Most worked in nearby factories, earning barely enough money to feed their families. Addams and Starr hoped that Hull House would bring some light into these people's lives. One of the first things they did was set up a day-care center for small children. Mothers who worked all day had no way to care for their children. So they would tie their young children to a table leg and leave them in the tenement while they went off to work. Older children worked or roamed the streets. The day-care center provided children a safe environment and at least one meal a day. Hull House also began a kindergarten and a boys' club for older youths. It later opened a coffee shop where adults met and socialized. These two women alone could not do all this work. Others came to Hull House, offering their help. Many, like Jane Addams, were women from middle-class families. Like her, they wanted to experience the "real world," but had no existing outlet to do so. Hull House offered them a way to serve the community. More Than Just a Meeting Place In time, Hull House became more than just a meeting place. A resident named Florence Kelly convinced Addams that improving immigrants' lives meant more than just providing them with a place to socialize. Conditions in Chicago's slums were dreadful. Garbage and sewage littered the streets. Youths even as young as 14 toiled in the factories. Even younger children worked at home, helping their parents sew clothing that would later be sold in stores. These tenement workplaces were called sweatshops because of their overcrowded and unsanitary conditions. Jane won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 for her work with the peace organization and the local immigrant community. When she died in 1935, Hull House filled an entire city block. It had inspired the creation of hundreds of similar houses across the U.S. Many Hull House residents went on to pursue other important social reforms. Through Jane Addams' efforts, women had blazed a pioneering role in improving the lives of others. But Addams always insisted that Hull House served her own needs as much as others.
Biography of Jane Addams and the Founding of Hull House