Mary Eliza McDowell (November 30, 1854 – October 14, 1936) was an American social reformer and prominent figure in the Chicago Settlement movement.

She later organized religious classes for young people that attracted prominent figures in the temperance movement, students from Northwestern University, and residents of Chicago.

[2] McDowell first began work for Frances Williard, founder of the Women's Christian Temperance Movement, where she met Elizabeth Harrison.

With Harrison's support, McDowell started teaching kindergarten classes at the Hull House and helped to organize the women's club under Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Star.

[8] In 1906, President Theodore Roosevelt passed along a letter from McDowell to the Agriculture Committee of the House of Representatives, recommending her knowledge of the poor conditions of the Chicago Stock Yards.

[4] The garbage dump nearby invited rodents and spread disease and the stagnant water of Bubbly Creek greatly needed cleanup in the neighborhood.

[10] Civic consciousness projects brought her into close proximity with local politicians and in 1923, became the Commissioner of Public Welfare under Mayor William Emmett Dever.