Orphan Trains

In 1853, Rev. Charles Loring Brace founded the first of many orphanages and social agencies to provide for the homeless street children in New York. Noting the need for laborers and the desire for more children in other parts of the country, Brace's Children's Aid Society began to "place out" children to families in more than 40 states. Eventually, thousands of children travelled to their new surroundings on what came to be called"orphan trains."