Robert Cozzi's Hull House History-Olivia Greco

My grandfather Robert Cozzi lived in the Taylor Street neighborhood until 1957. Like most families in the area, the Cozzi family was a large bunch; Papa was the third youngest of seven siblings all living together on 1033 South Morgan. His parents (my great grandparents) were US citizens, but spoke English and Italian yet refused to teach their children Italian. They were Americanizing the family very quickly and the first thing to go was the language.

Papa told me that his mother’s parents barely spoke English as they were not citizens, and his mother was taught English by counselors and teachers at Hull House. The Chicago staple, Hull House was a settlement house on Halsted St. that was founded to serve immigrant families in need. This is where my great grandmother learned how to speak English, learned how to sew, and even learned how to play instruments through the organization.

But it wasn’t just for my great grandparents. My Papa remembers going there quite a bit in his youth. He would go there after school, and learn how to play different sports, hang out with all the other children in the area, and if he needed help with school work, he said a counselor was always there if he needed help with anything. He also mentioned that over the summer they would send kids away for a summer camp for two weeks in Waukegan, so the city kids could get away and see more of what nature would have to offer.

All year round Hull House was opened for kids, teens and adults offering services, and offering help to people in the community who would need that help. Papa remembers a man who worked at Hull House who they called Johnny Keys, he was the man who made Hull House run in the 1050s. If you needed any help, he would set you up with a counselor, and they would try to get you the help that you needed whether you were young or old. “Mom went there when she was a kid, but she didn’t use the Hull House services herself after the great depression” my Papa told me as I nailed him with questions. He did not remember his mother ever going there, since he was born in 1941, after the great depression, but as I asked him about Hull House, he had some wonderful memories of him at Hull House before the family moved off South Morgan.

Papa told me one of the most unique things about Hull House was that it was not just for Italians but for all the immigrant communities. He remembers talking to Jewish, Polish, Irish, Mexican, all different ethnic groups that were helped by Hull House. The thing he remembers most about Hull House is the community, and how it helped everyone. He wished Hull House was still around today to help people in the community like they helped his family so long ago.