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Children of the Orphan Trains

The Orphan Train movement began in 1854 to give homes to the orphaned and abandoned children who lived on the streets of New York City and Boston.

The Children’s Aid Society was formed and it devised a plan to send the children westward to homes where they could become part of a family and meet the need for farm labor and domestic help. Several hundred of these children came to the Sauk River Valley before the practice ended in 1929.

This statue, honoring these children, can be found at the entrance of the Amboy Depot Museum.

Children of the Orphan Trains

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