A day in Life on the Orphan Train
Read along to learn all about the experience
What was the Orphan Train??
The Children's Aid Society was founded in 1853 by someone named Charles Loring Brace. Brace became obsessed with the predicaments of the poor and homeless children in New York . He became dedicated to help the thousands of children that were roaming the streets of New York in the search of food money and shelter who became the prey to disease and crime. Brace founded the Children's Aid Society to arrange the trips, raise the money, and obtain the legal permissions needed for relocation of the children. Between 1854 and 1929, more than 100,000 children were sent, by the orphan train to new homes in rural America. Noticing the need for labor in the expanding farm country, Brace knew that farmers would welcome the homeless children, take them into their homes and treat them as their own kids. His program that he built would turn out to be a prototype of modern foster care.