'The House that Jane Built' read by Kiernan Shipka

Welcome to Storyline Online presented by the SAG-AFTRA Foundation. I'm Kiernan Shipka and today I'm going to

read

to you The House That Jane Built written by Tanya Lee Stone and illustrated by Kathryn Brown. I am so excited to

read

this to all of you. A

house

is located on a busy street, its doors are wide open, it gives good cheer to all who come, it says to some: stay. In 1889, a wealthy young woman named Jane Addams moved into a beautiful, elegant home in Chicago, Illinois. But instead of moving to a charming, posh neighborhood, she chose a

house

that was right in the middle of one of the dirtiest and poorest areas of the city.

Why would a rich young woman do this when she could have lived anywhere? Jane was only six years old when she went on a trip with her father and she noticed that not everyone lived like her family. She promised that one day she would live “right in the middle of horrible little houses” and she would find a way to fix the world. Jane was a strong soul from the beginning. And she was brave. When she and her stepbrother George were young, they would sneak out at night to explore nearby caves. Once, Jane lowered George down a cliff on a rope to spy on an owl in her nest.

Jane was smart. She read and read from her father's book collection, which also served as the city's library. Most girls didn't go to college back then, but Jane's father believed that women should be educated. She attended Rockford Female Seminary and graduated at the top of her class. But when she finished school, she wasn't sure what to do with her life. That same summer her father died. Jane was lost. About two years later, she and her friends traveled to Europe. They went to the theater, the opera and many beautiful places. But then she Jane saw something in London that she couldn't forget: people dressed in rags and with their hands outstretched, begging a cart vendor to buy their leftover rotten fruits and vegetables that hadn't been sold at the market.

Spoiled food was all they could afford. What could she do to help? Long after her trip ended, the question lingered on her mind. She remembered how she felt when she was six years old. Jane traveled back to London to see a place she had heard that helped the poor in a completely new way. At Toynbee Hall, the idea was for rich and poor to live together in the same community and learn from each other. Instead of simply serving soup, for example, people could take cooking classes. Other skills were also taught. Toynbee Hall was the first settlement house.

It was called a settlement house because the wealthy people who worked there during the day did not return home at night. Instead, they “settled” and lived in Toynbee Hall, right in the same neighborhood as those in need. Jane now knew what to do. She told her friend Ellen Gates Starr about her plan to build a settlement house in Chicago. It was “as if a racehorse had bolted out of the gate, free at last to put every ounce of energy into running.” Chicago had a bright side, with its mansions, elegant shops and sparkling lakefront. But there was also a brave side.

In 1889, one million people lived in Chicago. The majority were immigrants, people who came from other countries. They came in search of a better life, but they didn't speak English. That made it difficult to find good jobs. Many needed help. Jane found the perfect house. It had large rooms with high ceilings and marble fireplaces. And it was in one of the worst neighborhoods in the city. Garbage rotted in the streets, piled up in large quantities. Large families were crammed into small, ramshackle houses with no running water. The smell of the back rooms hung in the air. The tough boys ran through the streets, causing trouble because they had nothing to do.

The house had belonged to Charles J. Hull and he had left it to a wealthy cousin named Helen Culver. At first, Jane paid the rent, but after telling Helen what she had in mind, Helen gave her the house for free. In gratitude, Jane named it Hull House. Jane moved there on September 18, 1889. The first night, she was so busy and excited that she forgot to lock a side door before going to sleep. But no one entered. She decided to leave Hull House open from then on so that people knew they could come in at any time. People who didn't have enough to eat or had no shoes or had just lost their jobs began to find their way to Hull House.

Of course, it wasn't always peaceful. Once a couple of kids threw rocks at the house and broke a window. Instead of getting angry, Jane took it as a sign to give the neighborhood kids something to do. She had her own way of seeing things. On another occasion, Jane discovered a man in the house looking for something to steal. He tried to jump out a window to escape, but she showed him the door so he wouldn't get hurt. When he barged in a second time, she asked him why. She said he was out of work and had no money.

Jane told him to show up the next morning. When she did, she gave him a job. Jane spent her own money running Hull House and asked other well-off people to also make donations. She didn't want to be paid to work there. Even when people gave her gifts, she gave them away. Her friends made fun of Jane for this. A friend gave her new underwear with her initials on it so Jane couldn't pass them on. But she did it! Any problem Jane discovered, she addressed. The lack of running water in the houses meant that bathing was not easy.

This caused illnesses. Then Jane went into a public bathroom. People came in droves, which helped her convince city officials that they needed to build more public bathrooms. Is there no safe place for children to play? Jane convinced a rich man to give her the land she owned near Hull House. Workers tore down the dilapidated buildings and turned the lot into a playground. It was the first in Chicago! Little kids home alone because their parents had to work fourteen hours a day? Jane opened a morning kindergarten and after-school clubs. She also organized afternoon classes for older children who had to go to work during the school day.

Jane didn't do all this alone. Ellen Gates Starr was her partner from the beginning. Many other intelligent and generous people moved into Hull House and helped. They taught literature, art, English, mathematics, science and cooking. Soon there was not just one building, but two. Then three, four and more. By 1907, Hull House had been converted into thirteen buildings, including a gymnasium, cafeteria, theatre, music school, community kitchen and art gallery. In the early 1920s, more than nine thousand people a week visited Hull House. The house that Jane

built

brought together all kinds of people and helped those in need.

She changed a bad neighborhood into a big, strong community. Hull House transformed the lives of all who entered it. Today, all community centers in America largely have Jane Addams to thank. With everything she did, both inside and outside the house Jane

built

, her childhood wish to help fix the world came true. And the good thing about this story that I love so much is that it is true. Reading is so magical for many reasons. It can take you to amazing, magical places that are beyond your wildest dreams, but it can also give you amazing, valuable, inspiring information like this and I am so happy that this book exists and that I was able to learn a little more about Jane today because It makes me want to be a better person.

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