It is hard to imagine there was a time in this great county’s history where there were so many orphaned children that it was deemed necessary to load them up on a train and transport them from the East Coast, mainly New York and Boston, to various places in the United States.
Few people today know much about the largest child migration in history. Between 1854 and 1929, more than 250,000 orphans and unwanted children were taken from New York City and given away at train stations across America. Children were sent to every state in the continental United States; the last train went to Sulphur Springs, Texas, in 1929. Many of the children were not orphans but "surrendered" by parents too impoverished to keep them(victoriaadvocat.com).
The common denominator of their experience was the Children’s Aid Society and other charitable organizations that would load a passenger car with abandoned and orphaned children and advertise their availability at stops along a railroad line — often with thinly veiled suggestions that the children would work for their keep. In 1888, the New York Juvenile Asylum distributed flyers announcing that it was bringing a group of children, ranging from 7 to 15 years old, to Rockford on Sept. 6. “They may be taken at first upon trial for four weeks, and afterwards, if all the parties are satisfied, under indenture — girls until 18 and boys until 21 years of age (chicagotribune).”
This caused problems as some children were taken merely for work and were never seen as part of the family, even being abused and neglected. But there were others who were adopted, cared for, and loved as any other family member.
There were many cities throughout the Midwest where the Orphan train would stop to deliver children. One of these stops was Delmar Iowa. There are still residents here that remember arriving on the train.
In the 1920s the number of Orphan Trains decreased sharply. It was at that time that states began passing laws that prohibited placing children across state lines. As state and local governments became more involved in supporting families, the use of the Orphan Trains was no longer needed.
Requirements to log this virtual:
1. Go to the first coordinates. Here you will see a cement wall with a painted sign. What does the sign say?
2. Go to N 42 00.053 W 090 36.450. Here you will see a train car. What do the big black letters say on the side of the car?
3. Go to N 42 00.054 W 090 36.482. Here you will see the train depot. Take a picture of the sign next to the door to prove you were here.
Send me the picture and the answers to the questions.
Note: Any log that is posted with the answers will be deleted. Also, any log that is posted and the answers not sent to me will be deleted. This is only fair to those cachers who visit this location and take the time to complete the cache requirements.
Virtual Rewards 2.0 - 2019/2020
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between June 4, 2019 and June 4, 2020. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 2.0 on the Geocaching Blog.