Skip to main content

Jane Addams's Hull House

A message on the back of this postcard says the image is of the first playground built by Jane Addams. The postcard was sent on July 8, 1910 to Buckeye, IL from Chicago. The postcard was printed in Germany.

Life was difficult for the many poor immigrants who settled on Chicago’s West Side. Not only was the neighborhood very dirty, it was also congested and dangerous at times. Jane Addams’s Hull House brought hope to the neighborhood.

Hull House offered an array of activities like swimming, art and English classes, employment services, and the opportunity to meet others. Hull House ous offered many activities for children and incorporated a child day care center to allow more women the ability to work.  

The story of Hull House began in 1889 when Jane Addams and her friend Ellen Starr leased a large home built by Charles Hull at 800 S. Halsted, near Polk Street. Their intention was to set up a settlement house like one they had previously visited in London to help Chicago’s immigrant community.

The neighborhood surrounding Hull House in the early 20th century was home to Italian, German, Polish, Jewish, and Irish immigrants. Later, Mexicans and African-Americans would also put down roots in and around the neighborhood. 

Children of the Ghetto (as stated on the postcard) surround the ice cream man while being idle and having nothing to do. Postcard was published by V.O. Hammond Publishing Co. of Chicago.



Hull House became a vibrant community and cultural center. The center grew to become a complex of thirteen buildings that included a public kitchen, an art studio and gallery, a gymnasium and pool, a music school, a drama group, and a library. 

Jane Addams is known as a trailblazer in the field of social work, but she took on many roles from fundraiser, volunteer coordinator, and political activist to postmaster of her local post office and even garbage inspector of Chicago’s Nineteenth Ward.  

Addams didn’t receive support from everyone and was targeted by some who accused her of being a Communist and Socialist. People even tried to damper the image of Hull House with rumors that it was haunted by a cursed “devil baby” who was fathered by Satan, born to a local woman, and hidden away in the settlement house. While visitors wanting to see this “devil baby” were politely turned away and told that no such child existed, Addams observed that the urban legend especially resonated with women who struggled with poverty and domestic violence and perhaps saw the baby as a reflection of their own suffering. 

Today, the original Hull House building and Residents’ Dining Hall are a museum and testament to Addams’ legacy. While not many postcards depicting the West Side neighborhood have been printed, several postcards of the exterior of Hull House became popular. One postcard featuring a playground named after Addams near the Hull House site was distributed at the time. More postcards depicting Jane Addams were probably printed in small quantities by historical groups and organizations. 

Written by Emily Ruzich



 Hull House grew substantially over the years. Postcard published by Max Riggot Selling Co. of Chicago.



Hull House provides immigrants and children with a place to learn. Postcard published by Curt Teich & Co. of Chicago.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Marshall Field's at Christmas

  The aisle on the first floor of the State Street store is 358 feet long. Postcard publisher is unknown.  Many Chicagoans continue to miss visiting Marshall Field’s during the holiday season. Just talking about the famed Christmas windows and holiday decorations brings about memories of the department store’s glory days. Many of us can recall the strong smell of perfume that would greet visitors upon entering the flagship State Street store, along with the huge white Romanesque columns decorated with Christmas fare on the first floor. The real fun, however, was taking the elevator to the 7 th floor to get a glimpse of the giant Christmas tree inside the Walnut Room restaurant. The best place to view the tree was one floor up on a balcony area. Christmas decorations on the first floor. Postcard publisher is unknown.  Frango mint chocolates were piled high in various areas throughout the store, and many visitors couldn’t resist buying a box. Frango chocolates were once made in a kitc
3 comments
Read more

Burlesque Dancer Sally Rand Took the Chicago World's Fair by Storm

Sally Rand danced at the Streets of Paris exhibit. Postcard printed by Curt Teich & Co, Chicago. Sally Rand was never supposed to perform her iconic “fan dance” at the 1933 Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago. The dancer’s requests to perform inside the Streets of Paris exhibit had been turned down several times. But Rand decided to take matters into her own hands by riding into a pre-opening party on the fairgrounds, uninvited, on a white horse wearing nothing but a velvet cape. The crowd loved it. Rand was arrested but released the next day, when she promptly accepted an offer to perform as the headliner in the Café de la Paix’s floor show for $90 per week. While her dancing broke boundaries and city decency ordinances at the time, her legacy was born and Rand made her cultural mark on the world. According to The 1933 Chicago World’s Fair by Cheryl Ganz, 29-year-old Sally Rand had previously worked as an acrobatic circus performer and film stuntwoman. She had also alread
Post a Comment
Read more

Sleeping and Bathing in Douglas Park

Young Bathers in Douglas Park. Postcard published by Acmegraph Co. of Chicago. Trying to sleep on hot and humid summer nights in the 1920s and 1930s was unbearable at times for my grandfather and his eight siblings who resided in a tenement house in Chicago’s Little Italy neighborhood. While some nights the family would sleep on the floor to cool down, other nights they would head to Douglas Park to sleep under the stars.  This wasn’t an uncommon practice at the time, as many other people would gather in the park on hot nights. It also offered an opportunity to have a little fun and play games outdoors before going to sleep.  My grandfather would also talk about a bathhouse at the park. At the time, I really didn’t understand what a bathhouse was, nor was I interested in learning more about it. I did, however, recently find some beautiful postcards of a Roman-style bathing area in the park. The first postcard here shows the bath and people bathing in the water. 
1 comment
Read more