Orphan Train

Orphan train
This article is about the Orphan Train Movement. For the TV movie, see Orphan Train (film).

The Orphan Train Movement was a supervised welfare program that transported children from crowded Eastern cities of the United States to foster homes located largely in rural areas of the Midwest short on farming labor. The orphan trains operated between 1854 and 1929, relocating from about 200,000 children.[1] The co-founders of the orphan train movement claimed that these children were orphaned, abandoned, abused, or homeless, but this was not always true. They were mostly the children of new immigrants and the children of the poor and destitute families living in these cities.[2] Criticisms of the program include ineffective screening of caretakers, insufficient follow-ups on placements, and that many children were used as strictly slave farm labor.[2]

Three charitable institutions, Children's Village (founded 1851 by 24 philanthropists ),[3] the Children's Aid Society (established 1853 by Charles Loring Brace) and later, New York Foundling Hospital, endeavored to help these children. The institutions were supported by wealthy donors and operated by professional staff. The three institutions developed a program that placed homeless, orphaned, and abandoned city children, who numbered an estimated 30,000 in New York City alone in the 1850s, in foster homes throughout the country. The children were transported to their new homes on trains that were labeled "orphan trains" or "baby trains". This relocation of children ended in 1930 due to decreased need for farm labor in the Midwest.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Warren was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b "Opposition to the Orphan Trains – National Orphan Train Complex". orphantraindepot.org. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  3. ^ "Our City Charities – No. II.; The New-York Juvenile Asylum". New York Times. 31 January 1860. Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2015.
    • a "...from the most careful inquiry, they regard suited to have the charge of such children. Six years of experience have increased their caution and watchfulness in this matter, and they now require such guarantees on the part of the masters as will, in their judgment, most conduce to the good of their wards. Regular reports are required both from the children and their masters, and the agent of the asylum visits the greater part of the children when making his trips to locate new companies. In this way, very few are lost sight of, and the results thus far, in the case of those indentured within two years past, are very gratifying." — ¶ 13
    • b "On the 30th of June, 1851, the act of incorporation was passed. The corporators named in the act were Robert B. Minturn, Myndert Van Schaick, Robert M. Stratton, Solomon Jenner, Albert Gilbert, Stewart Brown, Francis R. Tillou, David S. Kennedy, Joseph B. Collins, Benjamin F. Butler, Isaac T. Hopper, Charles Partridge, Luther Bradish, Christopher Y. Wemple, Charles O'Conor, John D. Russ, John Duer, Peter Cooper, Apollos R. Wetmore, Frederick S. Winston, James Kelly, Silas C. Herring, Rensselaer N. Havens, and John W. Edmonds" — ¶ 7
  4. ^ "Do Orphanages Still Exist in America? The Truth About 'Adopting an Orphan'". American Adoptions. Archived from the original on 7 June 2024. Retrieved 18 June 2022.