Between 1854 and 1929, over 250,000 orphaned, surrendered and abandoned children, mostly from New York City, were placed out during what came to be known as the orphan train movement.
The story of these children and this little-known era of American history has since been spread through the work of singer/songwriter Phil Lancaster and author/educator Alison Moore with their Riders of the Orphan Train outreach program. Local communities were fortunate to have two chances to attend this program, first at the Becker Senior Center April 19, and then again at the Clearwater Public Library April 23.
Lancaster and Moore met at a folk music festival in 1997 and began talking about the orphan trains, both of them unable to believe such a huge story had been kept such a secret. Neither of them knew anything about the orphan trains, so they spent the following summer together learning as much as they could.
Eventually they created the Riders of the Orphan Train program, which is now an outreach of the National Orphan Train Complex Museum in Concordia, KN.
The program blends together songs, photos and stories to create a narrative of the estimated 30,000 homeless children that were sent on trains to rural communities across the U.S. and parts of Canada and Mexico. Video of interviews with actual orphan train riders and what they experienced riding on the orphan trains and their lives after, both positive and negative, is a riveting part of the presentation.
Today Lancaster tours the country presenting the program to museums, libraries and schools.
The orphan trains were a welfare experiment and became the forerunner to today’s modern foster care. A charity called the Children’s Aid Society created the plan in an attempt to rescue the thousands of New York street children and give them a chance at a better life in rural America.
Many children did receive better lives, but many others were seen as nothing better than slave labor to work the farms.
Over 60 people attended the program at the Becker Senior Center, most knowing an orphan train rider or knowing information about one. Many of the attendees had personal stories of Pat Theisen, a long time Becker resident who had journeyed on the orphan trains. Theisen was proud of her experiences from that time and often spoke of them. She even had a child size doll that was dressed in the outfit she herself wore when she rode on the orphan train, which her children still have.
The Riders on the Orphan Train program at both Becker and Clearwater was provided to the communities through Great River Regional Library system with financial support from Minnesota’s Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.
“It’s very satisfying to provide such a great program about a time in U.S. history, especially to such a large crown,” said Becker Library Services Coordinator Jeannette Burkhardt.
Carol Brunn from the Becker Area Senior Center thanked the library for their partnership in bringing
