Rainy Chicago (Hull House)

It's been rainy today in Chicago, but Chicago is a town that looks good wet. This is true of other things as well.

I'm a guest of sorts of the Association for Humanist Sociology, which is having its annual meeting this week.
From the conference HQ (the Hilton-Orrlington), conferees took a bus to Hull House, which is a very cool place indeed.

Hull House was founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. It is the most famous example of the century-old phenomenon of "settlement houses," of which there were 500 in the U.S. by 1920.
Naturally, Addams, a pacifist and progressive sociologist, had an FBI file; she was regarded for a time as "the most dangerous person in the country."
She was a philosopher, you know. A "feminist pragmatist."
In 1932, she received a Nobel Peace Prize. She died in 1935.

There isn't much left of the huge complex that Hull House became, but at least two buildings remain, and they are fascinating. Above is a clock in the larger building. Here we see keys used by Addams and other Hull House officials. You can read more about Hull House here.

In the old community building, we heard a lecture by scholar Mary Joe Deegan. Deegan is attempting to correct neglect of the sociological and philosophical work of Addams and her peers.

Tomorrow, the U-505!