Woman's Club Of Morristown Details The Greatest American Story Never Told

Author Tom Riley will visit the Woman's Club of Morristown on October 18 to talk about the Orphan Train that relocated about 273,000 children from New York City to homes in various states across the nation between 1850 and 1929.

Riley calls the Orphan Train movement "the greatest American story never told" because the founders of the movement believed that salvation for children abandoned in the metropolis of New York City could be found in America's heartland. According to an article in the National Endowment for the Humanities, children who had been abandoned in the City would hop onto a westward bound train in groups of forty, and then be paraded around at local playhouses where the trains would stop. According to the piece, the demand for these children would be fierce, even inciting fights between the large mob of families who wanted to take in these children.

Riley will share the story of two boys, sent on the same train to Indiana, who later became the governors of Alaska and North Dakota. Mr. Riley was one of 12 children in a Harlem family that disintegrated by the time he was seven years old. He and several siblings were eventually sent to Happy Valley School in Pomona, NY. He discovered boxes of orphan train information while researching his own past.

The Orphan Train talk, which begins at noon, is free and open to the public, but reservations are requested. To reserve a spot, call (973) 539-0467 by October 13 to reserve a place. The Woman's Club is located at 51 South Street in Morristown.

Image via neh.gov, Kansas State Historical Society, used under Creative Commons.