Romani community near the University of Chicago Settlement
1 2022-03-02T20:23:33+00:00 Kate Flynn 7a93418b93b9db509597a67ae6311be88dcb38d6 530 1 Residents of a Romani community served by the University of Chicago Settlement House stand in front of a covered wagon. The University of Chicago Settlement House was established in 1894 by the Philanthropic Committee of the University of Chicago Christian Union in the Back of the Yards neighborhood of Chicago. With previous experience at Hull House in Evanston, Mary McDowell led the organization as Head Resident and played an integral role in Settlement activities until her death in 1936. The Settlement House provided English instruction, citizenship and legal assistance, and medical care, among many other services, to the largely European immigrant population of the Back of the Yards community plain 2022-03-02T20:23:33+00:00 University of Chicago. Settlement tinley-006 No Known Copyright James L. Minnick circa 1900 Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library James L. Minnick. University of Chicago Settlement Album OS12002 #58912 Back of the Yards (Chicago, Ill.) Kate Flynn 7a93418b93b9db509597a67ae6311be88dcb38d6This page is referenced by:
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Mary McDowell in Back of the Yards
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The University of Chicago Settlement House in 1894
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Southwest Side
In 1894, Mary McDowell moved to Back of the Yards, an industrial neighborhood in Far Southwest Chicago. She spent over three decades living with the immigrant community and helping them improve their environment and quality of life as head resident of the University of Chicago Settlement House.
The community was made up of Polish, Lithuanian, Slovak, Czech, and other immigrants living near the Union Stock Yard, where many of them worked. A Romani community living in the area was documented in a photo album created by social reformer James L. Minnick when he visited the Chicago Settlement around 1900. Hispanic and African American communities joined the population and the settlement activities in the following decades.
Mary McDowell and the University of Chicago Settlement provided kindergarten education, English lessons, vocational schools, bathing facilities, and social programs for the neighborhood. As McDowell learned of the many challenges faced by the the community, she found that the best way to improve living conditions was to organize the people and educate them on their political rights. She coordinated men and women's clubs, encouraging them to put pressure on local officials to fix local problems. McDowell recognized the benefit of labor unions in improving working conditions and helped a group of 20 women form Local 183 of Amalgamated Meat Cutters and Butcher Workmen of North America. She joined workers in the 1904 stockyard strike, earning the moniker, "Fighting Mary."
