February 2005

Art copyright ©2003 by Ken Stark; used with permission G. P. Putnam’s Sons

Faced with the complexities experienced by prospective adoptive parents, it’s hard to believe there was a time when abandoned children, from infants to teenagers, were shipped by trainloads from New York to homes in the Midwest.

"Orphan Train" is an exhibit of original illustrations from a book written by Verla Kay and illustrated by Wisconsin artist Ken Stark. The book accompanies siblings Lucy, Harold and David on their orphan train trip from the streets of New York to their new homes. The exhibit depicts trains that brought children from the overcrowded East Coast to the Midwest, including Milwaukee.

From 1854 to 1929, more than 150,000 youngsters from the East Coast were part of a program known as "placing out." Many of the children roamed the streets in search of money, food and shelter. In many cases, one or both parents of these children were still alive but unable to care for their children.

In 1853 a young New York minister, Charles Loring Brace, became obsessed with the effort to save these youngsters. His goal was to get the children out of their surroundings and send them away to kind Christian homes in the country. He founded the Children’s Aid Society to raise money, obtain legal permission and ultimately relocate the children via train to new homes in rural America. He believed farmers would welcome homeless children, take them into their homes and treat them as their own.

Orphan Trains, as they became known, arrived in nearly every state in the Union, although the Midwestern states were especially popular. Advertisements were placed in local newspapers in destination communities; on the scheduled arrival date, prospective foster parents would come from as far as 30 miles away to take their pick of a new son or daughter. While many were chosen to serve as household help or indentured servants, many others were successfully placed in loving homes.

Stark, who stayed five months at a children’s home when his mother was ill, felt a kinship with the children in the book. He will speak at the Wisconsin State Reading Association’s convention and Young Authors’ program in conjunction with the exhibit.

The exhibit will be at the Milwaukee County Historical Society, 910 N. Old World Third St., through April 17. Stark will sign copies of his book at the museum at 7 p.m. Feb. 3. For information, call (414) 273-8288.