Ellen Gates Starr, who was born in Illinois in 1859, enrolled in Rockford Female Seminary. Here, she met what would be a long-time friend, Jane Addams. Together, they founded a mansion in the city of Chicago. After fixing it up, the Hull House was formed. This became the first settlement house in Chicago and in the United States, officially opening in 1889. This mansion was surrounded by the slums of Chicago. They felt no need to move it to another part of the city, but where it would feel more welcoming to the female immigrants and their children. The reason for opening the mansion was to give women a place to stay. Starr felt that the slums obviously weren’t sufficient enough. The Hull House was an important step for the many Chicago immigrants needing help. Although it started out as a nursery, the mothers of the children would sit in a room to sit and talk. The house later developed into a larger house of education. Here, you could take classes, do activities, and learn English. The mansion had many options for one person to keep busy with. Many immigrants brought their children to the Hull House, too. Here, the children were taken care of and also paid very close attention to. Adults also found a warm welcome in this mansion. There were clinics, exhibits, and different typos of classes being taken to further their education.Starr began to teach at the Hull House. The showed girls how to cook and sew. Starr also created art classes and other painting exhibits. She also thought of a way to let people borrow some paintings to hang in their own house. Among the years, Starr became locally known. She was called “the principal coordinator for cultural activities at Hull House”. In her later years, Starr attempted to reform child labor laws and help poor immigrant factory workers earn more money and make labor much easier for them. She was close to all the women and took the time to learn abou...
