Jane Addams and her colleague, Ellen Gates Starr, founded the most successful settlement house in the United States, otherwise known as Hull-House ("Settlement" 1) . He was in a city overrun with poverty, filth, and gangsters, and it couldn't have come at a better time (Lundblad 663). The primary purpose of settlement houses was to ease the transition into American culture and workforce, and The Hull-House offered its residents the opportunity to help the community, was a safe haven for the city, and paved the way for social reform for women and children.Laura Jane Addams was born in Cedarville, Illinois, on September 6, 1860. Addams lost her mother in childbirth at the age of two, and her father, John Addams, was a prominent politician as a senator of state of Illinois and friends with Abraham Lincoln. Addams attended Rockford Seminary at her father's insistence to be close to her and graduated with the intention of working with the poor and studying medicine (“About Jane” 1). Jane fell into depression when she suddenly lost her father in 1881, abandoned her medical studies, and traveled through Europe twice in six years. It was in London that Addams attended a spoiled food auction that inspired her to devote herself to social work. She was disgusted by the sight of poor people eagerly bidding for garbage and hoped to establish a settlement house in Chicago similar to London's Toynbee Hall. When Addams discussed her plans with Ellen Gates Starr, a college friend, she was surprised that Starr was interested. Together, they rented a mansion built by Charles Hull that was located on the west side of Chicago, and when the doors of Hull-House opened, the neighborhood and Chicago were overrun with poverty (Lundb...... middle of paper .. ....if." Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. UIC College of Architecture and Arts, nd Web. January 29, 2014 "About Jane Addams." Jane Addams Hull-House Museum. UIC College of Architecture and Arts, nd Web. January 29, 2014 “Hull House.” Social Welfare History Project. SocialWelfareHistory.com, January 29, 2014. Johnson, Mary Ann. “Hull House,” Chicago Historical Society. Lundblad, Karen Shafer. Jane Addams and Social Reform: A Model for the 1990s". Social Work 40.5 (1995): 661-669 Full Academic Web Program of Collections: Immigration to the United States. ThePresident and Fellows of Harvard College, n.d. Web January 26, 2014. Webber, Tammy “Jane Addams Hull House Closes Its Doors After More than 120 Years.” TheHuffingtonPost.com, January 27, 2012. Web. 29 January. 2014.