Discusses the placement of over 200,000 orphaned or abandoned children in homes throughout the Midwest from 1854 to 1929 by recounting the story of one boy and his brothers.

"From 1850 to 1930 America witnessed a unique emigration and resettlement of at least 200,000 children and several thousand adults, primarily from the East Coast to the West. This 'placing out,' an attempt to find homes for the urban poor, was best known by the 'orphan trains' that carried the children. Holt carefully analyzes the system, initially instituted by the New York Children's Aid Society in 1853, tracking its imitators as well as the reasons for its creation and demise. She captures the children's perspective with the judicious use of oral histories, institutional records, and newspaper accounts. This well-written volume sheds new light on the multifaceted experience of children's immigration, changing concepts of welfare, and Western expansion. It is good, scholarly social history."—Library Journal

The true story behind Christina Baker Kline’s bestselling novel is revealed in this “engaging and thoughtful history” of the Children’s Aid Society (Los Angeles Times). A powerful blend of history, biography, and adventure, Orphan Trains fills a grievous gap in the American story. Tracing the evolution of the Children’s Aid Society, this dramatic narrative tells the fascinating tale of one of the most famous—and sometimes infamous—child welfare programs: the orphan trains, which spirited away some two hundred fifty thousand abandoned children into the homes of rural families in the Midwest. In mid-nineteenth-century New York, vagrant children, whether orphans or runaways, filled the streets. The city’s solution for years had been to sweep these children into prisons or almshouses. But a young minister named Charles Loring Brace took a different tack. With the creation of the Children’s Aid Society in 1853, he provided homeless youngsters with shelter, education, and, for many, a new family out west. The family matching process was haphazard, to say the least: at town meetings, farming families took their pick of the orphan train riders. Some children, such as James Brady, who became governor of Alaska, found loving homes, while others, such as Charley Miller, who shot two boys on a train in Wyoming, saw no end to their misery. Complete with extraordinary photographs and deeply moving stories, Orphan Trains gives invaluable insights into a creative genius whose pioneering, if controversial, efforts inform child rescue work today.

... An 8 year plan to preserve Lowell's historic and cultural resources in order to tell the story of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century; included in the plan are mills, institutions, residences, commercial buildings and canals; describes the areas covered; discusses preservation standards, public improvements, financing, related programs, etc.; provides architectural information, dates of construction, history, plans for building reuse, etc. of specific structures in the Lowell National Historic Park and Lowell Heritage State Park ...

From 1854 to 1929 about 150,000 orphans from New York City and the surrounding area were placed in homes in the Midwest and West. The children were sent out on "Orphan Trains." This is the first volume in a series of stories written by orphan train riders and their descendants.

This book relays the factual details of the orphan trains that sent East Coast orphans to be with families in the Midwest and West. The narrative provides multiple accounts of the event, and readers learn details from the point of view of an orphan child heading to the Midwest, a Midwestern family awaiting a child, and a New York City child welfare worker. This book offers opportunities to compare and contrast various perspectives in the text while gathering and analyzing information about an historical event.

Describes the orphan train movement through the eyes of one small child who yearns to know her "real" mother, survives a tortured childhood, when she encountered whippings and sexual abuse, and ultimately, as an adult, comes to terms with her past, her faith, and herself.