Jane Addams: The Hull House

Jane Addams was born on September 6, 1860, in Cedarville, Illinois. She was best known as the founder of The Hull House, a community center located in one of Chicago 's poorest neighborhoods. The Hull House opened its doors to recently arrived European immigrants. In 1912 the Hull House was completed with the addition of a summer camp, the Bowen Country Club. With its new social, educational, and artistic programs, Hull House became the standard bearer for the movement that had grown, by 1920, to almost 500 settlement houses nationally. Addams was also known to be the first American woman to receive a Nobel Peace Prize.

In late 1887, Jane Addams accompanied a few friends on a trip to Europe (she was 17 at the time). During a stay in Madrid,

The hull house helped out so many people in need and in Addams doing this she had been give the Nobel prize and became the first woman to gain this accomplishment. She argued that society should both respect the values and traditions of immigrants and help the newcomers adjust to American institutions. A new social idea was needed! She said, to stem social conflict and address the problems of urban life and industrial capitalism. Although tolerant of other ideas and social philosophies, Addams believed in Christian morality and the greatness of learning by doing. Addams wasn’t the only one who had the idea of starting the Hull House In 1889, she and a friend, Ellen Gates Starr, rented a mansion that once had been owned by a man named Charles Hull. The hull house was too hard to run just by themselves and the way they got help was people offering to come in and do it, it was a way to show that you are trying to help the

Jane Addams supported other causes too. She participated in helping trade unions and winning the right to vote for women. Not all of her efforts won public support. During World War I she organized the Women 's International League for Peace and Freedom. This helped to end the war. Many called her an enemy of the people because of her anti war stance. In the end Addams was appreciated for her life 's work. She won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 for her work with the peace organization. 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. "I should at least know something of life firsthand,"