New York CityOrphan train movementUp to 30,000 homeless children in one city, in peacetime. Where were their parents?From 1854 to 1929 the trains moved about 200,000 children. In 1850 there were an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 homeless children in New York City alone.
Photo: Children's Aid Society · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons
Orphan Trains · Manhattan, United States (approx.)
How many rode: 200,000 or 250,000?
The open question
Wikipedia's Orphan Train page says about 200,000; the Children's Aid page says more than 250,000. Why can't anyone pin down the count? Why are the records on these children so thin, sealed or lost?
On the record
From 1854 to the last train in 1929, more than 250,000 children rode the "Orphan Train" to new lives. The Orphan Train Heritage Society maintains an archive of riders' stories.
- Year
- 1929
- Kind
- statistic
Sources
More from Orphan Trains
New York CityOrphan train movementUp to 30,000 homeless children in one city, in peacetime. Where were their parents?From 1854 to 1929 the trains moved about 200,000 children. In 1850 there were an estimated 10,000 to 30,000 homeless children in New York City alone.
Dowagiac, MichiganFirst orphan train stop, DowagiacA train of children shows up and families pick them at the station. Who checked where they went?In 1854 Dowagiac was the final stop for the first group of orphans brought west from New York; children were dropped off and taken in at the depot.
Concordia, KansasNational Orphan Train ComplexChildren stood on a stage and said their names. How many lost those names afterwards?A museum in the restored Union Pacific depot. Some children were walked from the depot into a playhouse and put on stage, said by the museum to be the origin of 'up for adoption'.
New York CityChildren's Aid SocietyBusinessmen paid to send city children to farms. Who needed the labour, and who gained?Founded in 1853 by Charles Loring Brace with money from New York businessmen; one of the three charities behind the orphan trains.