Hull House
| Hull House | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| (National Register of Historic Places) | |||
 | |||
| Location: | 800 S. Halsted, Chicago, Illinois | ||
| Coordinates: | coord}}{{#coordinates:41|52|15.1|N|87|368|49|W| | name=
}} | |
| Built/Founded: | 1889 | ||
| Added to NRHP: | October 15, 1966 | ||
| Governing body: | College of Architecture and the Arts at the University of Illinois at Chicago | ||
Hull House, established in Chicago, Illinois in 1889, was one of the first settlement houses in the United States. Co-founded by volunteers Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr, the settlement house eventually became one of America’s largest all-volunteer establishments with thirteen buildings to house facilities. Under Addams’ leadership, the Hull House’s renowned social, educational and artistic programs earned the program a reputation as the best-known settlement house in the United States, sparking a subsequent movement nationwide that founded nearly 500 similar settlements by 1920.[1]
Mission
The objective of Hull House, as stated in its charter, was: "To provide a center for a higher civic and social life; to institute and maintain educational and philanthropic enterprises, and to investigate and improve the conditions in the industrial districts of Chicago."
As founded by Addams and Starr, Hull House’s main purpose was to provide social and educational opportunities for working class people within the urban Chicago neighborhood, many of whom were recent immigrants. Hull House offered classes in literature, history, art, domestic activities, and entertainment including concerts, lectures, and clubs for both children and adults. Among the educational courses offered was an intensive bookbinding program, a timely offering given the various employment opportunities in the printing trade at the time.
Political Influence
During the two decades following its establishment, Hull House attracted various female figures who would rise to become prominent and influential reformers at all levels. During this time, the Hull House settlement and its inhabitants gained an acute political awareness, gradually advocating for legislative reforms at the municipal, state and federal levels. Priorities included child labor laws, women’s suffrage, and immigration policies. At the neighborhood level, volunteers established Chicago’s first public playground and bathhouse, pursued educational and political reforms, and investigated housing, working and sanitation issues. At the municipal level, Hull House’s steadfast pursuit of various legal reforms lead to the establishment of the first juvenile court within the United States. Members also influenced areas of urban planning and directed the nationwide transition toward branch library systems. At the state level, Hull House associates influenced legislation on child labor laws, occupational safety and health provisions, compulsory education, immigrant rights, and pension laws. Seeking success at the federal level, Hull House began working with the settlement house network to champion a highly progressive agenda including national child labor laws, women’s suffrage, a Children’s Bureau, unemployment compensation, and workers' compensation.[1]
Community Influence
Throughout later decades, the settlement house also set out to ameliorate various effects of poverty, establishing a public dispensary to provide nutritious food for the sick, a daycare center, and public baths for Chicago’s underprivileged population..[2]
The Hull House was also well known for its success in aiding urban assimilation programs, in particular for their role in helping to Americanize immigrant youth.[3] The settlement also became the center of the movement to promote hand workmanship as a moral regenerative force.[4] Journalist Paul Kellogg once called the group the "Great Ladies of Halsted Street” in reference to their philanthropic success. [5]
The Building
The Hull House took its name from the original mansion built on Chicago’s Halsted Street by real estate developer Charles J. Hull in 1856. At one time located in a prestigious part of Chicago, by 1889 Halsted Street had descended into squalor in part due to the rapid and over-whelming influx of immigrants into the Near West Side neighborhood. In its dilapidation, Hull granted his former home to his niece Helen Culver, who in turn granted it to Addams on a 25-year rent-free lease. By 1907, Addams had acquired thirteen buildings surrounding Hull's mansion, marking Hull House the largest settlement house within America at the time. The facility remained at that location until 1963 upon where it was purchased by the University of Illinois-Circle Campus, which kept the original 1905 dining hall designed by Pond & Pond.[6]
Today
Co-founder Jane Addams ran the Hull House as head resident until her death in 1935. After her death Hull House continued to serve the community around the Halsted location until it was displaced by the urban campus of the University of Illinois. Today, the philanthropic efforts of the original Hull House settlement are performed throughout the city at various locations under the Jane Addams Hull House Association. This association has, since 1962, perpetuated the name and many of the aspirations of the original institution.[1] Today, the original Hull House has been converted into a museum and stands as a part of the University of Illinois’ College of Architecture and the Arts and is open to the public.
Selected notable residents
- Edith Abbott
- Grace Abbott
- Jane Addams
- Neva Boyd
- Sophonisba Breckinridge
- Edward L Burchard, the first male resident, for about a year starting in 1891.
- Dorothy Detzer
- Alice Hamilton
- Florence Kelley
- Mary Kenney O'Sullivan
- Julia Lathrop
- Mary McDowell
- Alzina Stevens
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Johnson, Mary Ann, Hull House, p. 402, Eds. Grossman, James R., Keating, Ann Durkin, and Reiff, Janice L., 2004 The Encyclopedia of Chicago. The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-31015-9
- ↑ Gehl, Paul F., Book Arts, p. 87, Eds. Grossman, James R., Keating, Ann Durkin, and Reiff, Janice L., 2004 The Encyclopedia of Chicago. The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-31015-9
- ↑ Gems, Gerald R., Clubs: Youth Clubs, p. 181, Eds. Grossman, James R., Keating, Ann Durkin, and Reiff, Janice L., 2004 The Encyclopedia of Chicago. The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-31015-9
- ↑ Darling, Sharon S., Arts and Crafts Movement, p. 49, Eds. Grossman, James R., Keating, Ann Durkin, and Reiff, Janice L., 2004 The Encyclopedia of Chicago. The University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-31015-9
- ↑ http://www.ssa.uchicago.edu/aboutssa/history/tour1d.shtml accessdate=2007-01-07
- ↑ http://www.ci.chi.il.us/Landmarks/H/HullHouse.html accessdate=2007-01-03
External links
- Twenty Years at Hull House by Jane Addams, MacMillan & Co, 1910, at Project Gutenberg.
- Jane Addams Hull House Association
- Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
- The Pots of Promise Exhibit
- Urban Experience In Chicago: Hull-House and Its Neighborhoods, 1889-1963
- Hull House Jubilee Article
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