National Orphan Train Complex - Concordia, KS
Posted by: 
linkys
N 39° 34.484 W 097° 39.689
14S E 614962 N 4381413
Museum preserving and displaying the stories and artifacts of those who were part of the Orphan Train Movement in the United States from 1854-1929.
Waymark Code: WMEY15
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 07/20/2012
Views: 8
Between 1854 and 1929 an estimated 200,000 orphaned, abandoned, and homeless children were placed out during, what is known today as, the Orphan Train Movement. The children were transported to their new homes on trains which were eventually labeled “orphan trains.” This is a museum of those events.
The museum is housed in the former Union Pacific Station in Concordia, and while it played virtually no role in the orphan train movement, it is playing a key role in the preservation of that movement. The rooms of the station are filled with the stories of the people who were part of this massive relocation of young people.
Exhibits include items of clothing and the identification tags the riders wore. Photos of groups of children standing by the trains, the trains were not special trains, but were regularly scheduled passenger trains. There are photos of the riders, as well as people who organized the movement both in the big cities of the East where many off the children were from and the smaller towns of the east and west where they were sent.
There also the stories of the riders themselves and what they faced at their destinations. Some good some bad. Some with loving families, some with families who only wanted farm labor. It is these various stories that really make the museum come alive and make it a must see destination if one is in that part of the country. Many museums have fancy high tech displays, this one has you living and understanding history.
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