As a result of the gained popularity of Hull House there were many rumors that were begging to flourish not only in the immediate community but also reaching a wider audience. Many reported that there were ghosts and spooks in the abandoned mansion that was purchased by Addams and Starr, however the largest fabrication spread was one about a supposed “Devil Baby” that supposedly could be seen from an attic window when walking down the street. This story was made very public in the fall of 1913, there were several versions of this tale and each had interpretations of their own. The Italian and the Jewish renditions of the story were the ones that were predominantly spoken of not only in Chicago but also as far as Milwaukee. It seemed that this …show more content…
Hull House was viewed as a headquarters for women activists that wanted to bring change to the conditions in which people were living in, this included the home, workplace, and surrounding neighborhood. (Clark, 2006) Florence was born in 1859 in Pennsylvania; her father was a social activist that spent his time fighting for the rights of the poor and weak. This experience from an early age had a large influence on the type of work that she would later on get involved in. Earlier in her career she worked in order to “contribute to the creation of institutions to protect workers and families, establish standards for public health, educate children, and facilitate the means for the transformation of society to a system in the service of social needs.” (Clark, 2006) She joined Hull House in 1891 alongside Jane Addams, Julia Lathrop, and Ellen Gates Starr. Her initial goal when joining the settlement house movement was to look at the working conditions in the surrounding factories, she found that children as young as three and four were working in terrible conditions ones that would not even be suitable for able bodied adults. This caused Florence to dive into the pain and suffering that the community was going through and felt that she needed to help. She taught economics to the residents and added to protection of families and workers, establishing the standards for public health and creating the means to create a society that was serving social needs of the