What are the Orphan Trains ?

The various Orphan Trains operated between 15th January 1864 to the 20th December 1889, although some Orphan Trains continued to be organised until the 17th April 1929. During these dates, around 250,000 to 320,000 parentless infants were relocated, although many Americans believed at more than 540,000 children were actually relocated during the Victorian Period.

Where did the Orphan Trains come from ?

The co-founders of the Orphan Train Movement claimed that these infants were orphaned, abandoned, abused, or homeless, but this was not always true. They were mostly the children of immigrants and the poor destitute families who had escaped the destruction which the First Mud Flood and Second Mud Flood had caused in Mainland Europe, and knew they had to reach North America, even though it meant overcrowding would occur in the urban settlements of the Eastern United States.

What to the Children of the Orphan Trains ?

A number of charitable institutions were established during this time, and these were the Children’s Village, formerly known as the New York Juvenile Asylum. The original charter for the Children’s Village was drafted on the 14th December 1850, and it was officially founded on the 30th June 1851 by 24 philanthropists who were named in the Incorporation Act 1851.