Hull House Services
From the start, Hull House was prepared to perform a variety of services. Many hours were spent to get "support for deserted women, insurance for bewildered widows, damages for injured operators, furniture from the clutches of the installment store." There was the November evening a fifteen-year-old Italian bride came to the house seeking shelter. Her husband had beaten her every night for a week because she had lost her wedding ring. There was another night when Miss Addams and another Hull-House resident, Julia Lathrop-who was later active in the organization of the Cook County Juvenile Court-acted as midwives to deliver an illegitimate baby because the doctor was late in arriving, and none of the Irish matrons would "touch the likes of her." (Weinberg, Some Dissenting Voices: The Story of Six American Dissenters, p. 157)Questions for Group Activity:
1. Look at the wide range of services that Hull House provided for the people in the neighborhood. Why was it necessary for Hull House to do the things it did?
2. In general, what was life like for the people who lived around Hull House?
3. Who provides those services to the people of Chicago now?