Home > Development of the Industrial U.S. > Ellen Gates Starr Biography

Born March 19, 1859 (Laona, Illinois)

Died February 10, 1940 (Suffern, New York)

Labor activist

Teacher

Ellen Gates Starr did not achieve the same kind of fame enjoyed by her close colleague, Jane Addams (1860–1935; see entry), but Starr did play an important role in the founding of Hull House in Chicago, Illinois, in 1889. Starr and Addams established the pioneering settlement house in one of the city's poorest neighborhoods, where thousands lived in unhealthy, overcrowded conditions. Hull House was founded on the principle that to help the poor one must live among them, and the two single, well-educated women from wealthy families astonished many in the city by doing just that. Starr stayed with Hull House for much of her life and took an active role in Chicago's early labor union movement.