Near West Side: Easing the Transition
Beginning as early as the 1830s, waves of immigrants and migrants made Chicago’s Near West Side their home. Families from diverse ethnic backgrounds created vibrant communities despite poverty and unsafe living and working conditions.
Hull House, a settlement house in the Near West Side, was established in 1889 to help neighborhood residents negotiate survival and success in the city.
Jane Addams, Founder and Visionary
Progressive era reformer Jane Addams founded Hull House. The settlement house offered practical assistance, vocational training, and social and cultural activities to Chicago’s working-class and immigrant populations. Its programs revolutionized the methods of social work. Addams won a Nobel Prize for her efforts.