Jane Addams Maps of the area around Hull House Chicago

When Jane Addams, a single woman in Chicago, bought a large empty house in Chicago's immigrant area, she had big plans.  She was copying the settlement house movement that began in England.  In a crowded slum area called Toynbee Hall, social progressives created a community center that offered health care, cultural activities, and social supports for the poor.

Miss Addams bought Hull house, and soon, other homes were bought in the area.  Around the Hull House neighborhood were crowded tenements, that might be called slums by today's standards.  The Hull House/Settlement House movement grew to over 400 settlement houses.  They were called this for a simple reason:  They helped people get "SETTLED" into their new life in the United States.

When I visited Chicago, I went to Hull House and obtained copies of the maps that she had made of the people around the surrounding neighborhood.   All the maps were color coded according to the background of the persons.   The maps told some interesting things:  the Irish lived by the Italians as they were both Catholic.   The Polish lived by the Russians as they were neighbors in Europe. 

Because many of the tenements had their occupants move out--only to be replaced by the same ethnic group, she invested the money to have the maps made up in so much detail.  The maps are not just a valuable clue to the vibrant mix of immigrants in America---they also reveal the concern that Miss Adams had that she know all her neighbors and their needs.

In 1931, Jane Addams, a social worker, was awarded the highest award:  The Nobel Peace Prize.  This tremendous honor was criticized by some, for she was just considered a social worker.   The Nobel Committee knew better.  Jane Addams would be one of the great humanitarians of the 19th century.