From 1854 to 1929, hundreds of thousands of abandoned and orphaned children were sent from east coast cities to the American countryside in a “placing out” effort to find them loving homes. The movement boasted an impressive success rate by relocating over 250,000 children to midwestern states.

Some common complaints were: The children coming on the trains were of poor character or poor health. They were “criminals” and “vagabonds” or they were sickly or disabled. New York was using orphan trains as a way to send their “problems” West.

A: Yes – there were thousands! Many riders thought that they rode the only orphan train. This may be because, in their limited child's world, they could not conceive of there being other trains moving other children.

Orphan Train, spanning between 1854 and 1929, is both a Triumph and Tragedy. This movement relocated abandoned and unwanted children in an attempt to give them a brighter and happier future. It moved around 300,000 lost children out of the major cities and towards the midwest.