Page 4 - Galveston RR Museum Newsletter - April 2023

It will be good to have the Theater Building back in and Mexico. Other cities established orphan trains as well.
operation. It not only serves as the focus of the Museum’s Railroads gave discounted fares to the children, as well as
collection of china and other artifacts, but is used during the Children’s Aid Society members who traveled with them.
Polar Express as a place where items can be purchased by It was reported that some children were delighted to find
participants. new families, while others were angry at being sent away
when they still had relatives “back home.” It could be a
Orphan Train Exhibit somewhat humiliating experience. Children were prodded
By Mary Jo Naschke, and poked and their teeth examined by prospective
Publicist and Marketing Director adoptive parents. In some places the children were taken
to the local playhouse and put up on the stage where they
In the early 1800s, the number of homeless and could be examined by prospective parents - the origin of “up
orphaned children grew very large. In New York City, it was for adoption.”
estimated that there were 10,000 to 30,000 of these It was also reported that the large majority of the children
children, many of whom were orphaned when their parents sent to country homes did well. There were, however, some
died in yellow fever, typhoid or flu epidemics, or they were reports that the children were essentially slave labor.
simply abandoned. The Orphan Train program declined as the demand for
A minister named Charles Brace attempted to assist children able to be adopted in the midwestern states was
these children, first by taking them in, giving them shelter reduced, and by the establishment of in-state agencies to
and education. However, the number of children grew care for their orphan populations.
overwhelming and another solution was sought. The Railroad Museum’s Orphan Train exhibit, films, and
Charitable institutions, including Rev. Brace’s Children’s presentations opened April 15 and will run the course of the
Aid Society were established in New York City to place year. A members preview and reception was presented
children in foster homes. April 14 with author Sandra McKay reading from her book A
First, individual children were sent to farms in Place for Me, followed by a book signing and refreshments.
Connecticut, Pennsylvania and rural New York. Ideally the The next day, Saturday, Dorothy Lund-Nelson,
farmers and their families would adopt the children, house presented a history re-enactment program to the general
them, feed them, provide education, and in return, have population that was rich in actual events and experiences of
them work on the farms. children who were placed on the trains. Special thanks to
This placement effort expanded to the so-called Orphan the Orphan Train Museum in Concordia, Kansas, and the
Trains. Instead of children being placed individually in families who contributed memorabilia, documents and
homes, large numbers of children were loaded on photographs. Especially Michael Frances for his support in
passenger cars to be transported. The name “Orphan making this exhibit possible. It truly is a remarkable time in
Train” is misleading. Many of the children were not orphans, America’s history.
but their parents were unable, or unwilling, to care for them.
Mobile Library Car Update
The trains ran to neighboring states, and to the Midwest.
Between 1954 and 1929, it is estimated that about 200,000 Construction of the “Arthur Carmody Memorial
children were transported to rural midwestern locations. Library” car is well underway, led by Jeff Gilyani and
member Dennis McNatt. When completed, this will be the
only fully mobile railroad library in the United States.
The floor is now installed, the generator is in place and
the walls are being finished.

Children aboard an orphan train coach.

The first orphan train left New York in Oct. 1854 and
traveled to Dowagiac, MI. Those children not adopted there
were next sent to Chicago, IL, and then to Iowa City, IA.
The venture was considered a success.
Orphan trains were sent to 45 states, as well as Canada Design of the library car interior by Dennis McNabb.