NEARLY SEVEN THOUSAND CHILDREN WERE LOADED ON TRAINS by the New York Juvenile Asylum (NYJA) in New York City and indentured in Illinois during the years 1854 to 1906.1 The trains they rode, now known as orphan trains, were collectively a part of what historians refer to as the orphan train movement. An estimated two hundred thousand children rode such trains to nearly every state in the US.2 Excluding New York State itself, it was the Midwest that received the vast majority of children, with Illinois holding the distinction of having received the highest number—followed closely by Iowa.3
It was New York City that gave birth to the orphan train movement. The city became overwhelmed by thousands of immigrants arriving from Europe—primarily Ireland and Germany—many fleeing hardships such as religious persecution or Ireland's infamous potato famine. Crime rates began to soar as a result of overcrowding and...
