The Williston Park Library hosted author Christina Baker Kline who discussed her new book, “Orphan Train,” on Wednesday, May 22. Baker gave a Power Point presentation on the history of the Orphan Trains.
Between 1854 and 1929 more than 200,000 children rode “orphan trains” from Eastern cities to the Midwest and West to be placed in foster homes.
The Children’s Aid Society in New York City initiated the program in an attempt to provide wholesome homes for orphaned children who might otherwise face a life of poverty and crime. In fact, many of these children were not orphans at all, but had parents who were unable to care for them.
Some orphan train riders found loving families and were adopted; others were regarded as cheap labor and worked long hours at home or in the fields.
Changing attitudes toward keeping families together, new state and local laws funding foster care and prohibiting out-of-state placement, and child labor legislation brought about the end of the orphan trains in 1929.
