Twenty Years at Hull House

Hull House, the first social settlement in the United States, was modeled after the university settlement of Toynbee Hall in the East End of London. Jane Addams and Ellen Starr founded a similar project to serve the poor, Hull House, on Halsted Street in Chicago. Jane Addams helped pioneer the social work profession, campaigned against the sweatshops, for trade unions, and for improved working conditions. Hull House played in important role in educating working-class children and women. Addams received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931 for her international efforts to end World War I and to establish a peace that would avoid war in the future.