 Toynbee Hall was a community of young men committed to helping the poor of London by living among them. After engaging the leaders of Toynbee Hall, Addams was rejuvenated by the idea of replicating the settlement in the United States. She enlisted a college friend, Ellen Gates Starr, in the plan. However, identifying their vague idea as a “plan” is a bit of hyperbole. There were very few specific blueprints for what the settlement would be other than a good neighbor to oppressed peoples. Nevertheless, Addams found a suitable location in a devastatingly poor Chicago immigrant neighborhood, and on September 18, 1889, Hull House opened its doors. Working amidst one of the most significant influxes of immigrants the United States has ever known, Hull House got off to a slow start as neighbors did not know what to make of the residents and their intentions. However, Addams and Starr built trust, and in a short time, Hull House became an incubator for new social programs and a magnet for progressives wanting to make society a better place. Without formal ideological or political constraints, the settlement workers responded to the neighborhood’s needs by starting project after project. The list of projects created at Hull House is astounding, including the first little theatre and juvenile court in the United States and the first playground, gymnasium, public swimming pool, and public kitchen in Chicago. In addition, the work of Hull House residents would result in numerous labor union organizations, a labor museum, tenement codes, factory laws, child labor laws, adult education courses, cultural exchange groups, and the collection of neighborhood demographic data. Hull House was a dynamo of progressive initiatives, all of which Addams oversaw.