Jane Addams died in Chicago on May 21, 1935, three days after being diagnosed with cancer.
Jane Addams died in Chicago on May 21, 1935, at the age of 74, just three days after undergoing surgery that revealed she had cancer. Her death came only two years after she had suffered a heart attack, and she had continued her reform and peace work up until her final months, remaining honorary president of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom until her death.
Her funeral was held in the courtyard of Hull-House, the institution she had founded 46 years earlier, and was attended by thousands of mourners, reflecting the immense scope of her influence across social work, public health, labor reform, women's suffrage, and international peace advocacy. Tributes poured in from political leaders, reformers, and everyday citizens whose lives had been touched by Hull-House's programs.
Addams's death marked the end of an era in American Progressive reform. She left behind an extraordinary legacy: she had helped establish the field of professional social work, played a foundational role in the settlement house movement, championed protective labor legislation for women and children, campaigned tirelessly for women's suffrage, and became an internationally recognized voice for pacifism, culminating in her 1931 Nobel Peace Prize. Hull-House itself continued operating as a settlement institution until 2012, and Addams's writings and philosophy continue to be studied in sociology, social work, philosophy, and political science programs worldwide.