The life of Jane Addams and evolutions of Hull House and Metropolitan Family Services are tightly linked to the social and political histories of Chicago and the United States.
1837
Founding of the City of Chicago
The Chicago Relief and Aid Society
1857
The Chicago Relief and Aid Society is incorporated by the Illinois State legislature. Metropolitan Family Services operates under this charter to this day.
That year, one of the most severe economic crises in US history occurred. In Chicago, one out of every four people lost their jobs and poverty was widespread.
The Chicago Relief and Aid Society organized and distributed aid to families in need of food, heat and housing.
Sept. 6, 1860
Jane Addams is born in Cedarville, Ill.
1861-1865
Though little is known of the particulars of the Relief and Aid Society during the Civil War, a Soldiers’ Relief Committee was formed and aid was extended to needy soldiers’ families.
1865
The Chicago Union Stock Yards are completed.
1871
Mayor Roswell B. Mason appoints the Chicago Relief and Aid Society to administer all relief, nearly $10 million in money and goods, to victims of the Great Chicago Fire. Between October 1871 and May 1873, the Society aided 39,242 different families and 156,968 different people — virtually half the population of Chicago when the fire broke out.
In addition to providing food, clothing, monetary relief, and smallpox vaccinations, the Society distributed thousands of sewing machines, tools, and equipment – to “sewing women,” carpenters, masons, tinners, bookbinders, locksmiths, tailors, shoemakers, and workers in almost every branch of mechanical industry – to help families and small businesses regain their productivity.
1886
The Haymarket Riot
1888
The Chicago Relief and Aid Society and Chicago Charity Organization merge, bringing a greater focus on poverty prevention to the organization.
June 1888
Addams visits the world’s first settlement house, Toynbee Hall in the East End of London.
1889
Addams moves to Chicago with Ellen Gates Starr in order to plan for a settlement house.
Sept. 18, 1889
Addams and Starr move into the Hull Mansion on Halsted and Polk St. in the 19th Ward where they open the home as a settlement house.
1891
Hull House begins a 13-building expansion by opening the Butler Art Gallery.
1893
Chicago hosts the World’s Columbian Exposition.
1894
Addams helps start The Chicago Federation of Settlements.
Mar. 1895
The Hull House Association is incorporated and Addams is elected president of the Board of Directors, a position she holds until her death in 1935.
1899
Illinois Juvenile Court Law creates the first juvenile court located across from Hull House.
1903
Addams is named vice president of the National Women’s Trade Union League.
1905
The Chicago Legal Aid Society is formed by the merger of the Bureau of Justice and the Protective Agency for Women and Children.
“The history of Legal Aid (civil) stretches back for more than a hundred years. The first organized effort to provide free legal help for those unable to hire an attorney was the Protective Agency for Women and Children, established in 1886 by the Women’s Club of Chicago, ‘to protect young girls from seductions and debaucheries’ by men posing as employers. The Der Deutsche-Rechtaschartz-Verein (later named the Legal Aid Society) in New York in 1876 is sometimes referred to as the first, but it helped only German immigrants. The Bureau of Justice, in 1888, was the first true legal aid service not limited by race or gender. The two pioneer services in Chicago combined in 1905 to form the Legal Aid Society.”
“The history of Legal Aid (civil) stretches back for more than a hundred years. The first organized effort to provide free legal help for those unable to hire an attorney was the Protective Agency for Women and Children, established in 1886 by the Women’s Club of Chicago, ‘to protect young girls from seductions and debaucheries’ by men posing as employers. The Der Deutsche-Rechtaschartz-Verein (later named the Legal Aid Society) in New York in 1876 is sometimes referred to as the first, but it helped only German immigrants. The Bureau of Justice, in 1888, was the first true legal aid service not limited by race or gender. The two pioneer services in Chicago combined in 1905 to form the Legal Aid Society.”
From “Balancing the Scales of Justice,” by Junius Allison.
1907
The Chicago Tribune turns over Camp Algonquin, a 20-acre fresh air camp on the Fox River, to the Chicago Relief and Aid Society. The focus of the camp was nutrition and physical help, providing sunshine, fresh air and food to mothers and children from the crowded city. Children from the Stock Yard district were often too ill to attend Camp Algonquin, and instead went to Camp Harlowarden to receive proper nutrition and medical treatment for tuberculosis.
Dec. 30, 1908
Jane Addams starts Mary Crane Nursery in the Hull House in memory of Richard Teller Crane’s wife.
1909
The Chicago Relief and Aid Society and the Chicago Bureau of Charities merge to form United Charities of Chicago. The organization began to more actively promote progressive public policies and address health issues such as tuberculosis.
1912
Addams writes 20 Years at Hull House.
1915
Addams helps organize Woman’s Peace Party, elected 1st Chairman.
United Charities of Chicago
1919
The Chicago Legal Aid Society becomes part of United Charities. Renamed the Legal Aid Bureau, it provided free legal services for 655 civil law cases in its first year. Cases frequently focused on family problems such as “domestic discord” and “desertion.”
1919
Addams founds the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and serves as president until 1929.
1921
1930s
The Great Depression
1931
United Charities serves more than 20,000 people each month during the Great Depression, nearly 10 times the pre-Depression figure. Reaching its peak in December 1931, the agency served 33,184 people.
By 1932, roughly 40% of Chicago’s labor force had no work. These men are employed making toys for relief clients in the coach house at South Central District, 2959 South Michigan Avenue, 1934.
1931
Addams becomes the 1st American woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
1934
United Charities helps establish the Community Fund of Chicago, now the United Way.
1935
United Charities leader Joel D. Hunter serves on an official advisory council established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to help shape what would become the Social Security Act.
1935
Psychiatrists were hired in 1934 to train staff and provide counseling for family problems. In 1935 the counseling services were officially named the Family Service Bureau and for the first time, a considerable number of financially independent families received “family consultation.”
May 21, 1935
Addams dies after doctors found colon cancer while performing corrective surgery.
The Second World War
1941-1945
United Charities helps the growing number of war refugees find work, and provided relief and relocation services. The agency also helped women working the jobs of men sent to war who had difficulty securing child care, as well as returning veterans. Legal Aid and casework staff were added, along with an increase in psychiatric services.
1950s
By the 1950s more attention was being paid to “multi-problem” families who struggled with complex social issues, difficult family relationships, economic and housing pressures, and mental illness. The Family Service Bureau had a Women’s Service Division to help unmarried mothers and their children, and a Service for the Aged.
1950s
In the late 1950s, a small group of women from Glen Ellyn and Wheaton who had a strong desire to help less fortunate families in the area began the Treasure House resale shop in a fixed-up two-bedroom apartment with two bags of items left over from a rummage sale.
1955
United Charities establishes the Calumet Center to serve the communities of Roseland, West Pullman, Riverdale, Washington Heights, Morgan Park, and Chatham.
1957
United Charities celebrates its first hundred years.
1964
The Civil Rights Act outlaws segregation and the Voting Rights Act is passed. President Lyndon Johnson introduces the War on Poverty.
1966
United Charities expands its services and opens its first suburban office, Southwest Center in Palos Hills, to serve southwest Cook County.
1970
The agency began a Consumer Credit Counseling service and helped the Chinese community establish a Chinese-speaking social agency for immigrants.
1971
The Union Stock Yards close.
1985
United Charities begins serving Southeast Chicago out of a one-person office in a church basement, to serve the community that was severely affected by the closing of local steel mills.
1987
United Charities furthers its expansion in the suburbs, acquiring the DuPage Center. Black Monday, the second-largest stock market crash in the US, hits the nation’s economy.
Metropolitan Family Services
1995
United Charities changes its name to Metropolitan Family Services to better reflect the work and scope of the broad community it serves, and opens the Midway Head Start Center.
1996
Metropolitan Family Services acquires the Family Counseling Service, establishing the Evanston/Skokie Valley Center.
2002
Metropolitan Family Services opens North Center, serving the Belmont-Cragin, Hermosa, Irving Park and Portage Park communities.
2003
Metropolitan Family Services opens North Center, serving the Belmont-Cragin, Hermosa, Irving Park and Portage Park communities.
2004
Metropolitan Family Services opens the new Children’s Center; sells Camp Algonquin to the McHenry County Conservation District to keep the pristine riverfront property available for public use.
2007
Metropolitan celebrates its 150th anniversary and convenes the Inaugural Summit on the Metropolitan Family, bringing together 300 prominent leaders to inspire new solutions to challenges facing families.
Jan. 27, 2012
Jane Addams Hull House Association closes.
2012
Metropolitan is awarded the contract for Head Start in DuPage County, acquires the Court Advocacy program, and is named United Way Agency Partner of the Year.
2016
Metropolitan convenes Communities Partnering 4 Peace (CP4P), working with eight partner organizations to address violence issues in Chicago.
