The Children Were Put on Trains and Sent Away
Between 1854 and 1929, an estimated 250,000 children were taken from cities like New York, Boston, and Chicago and sent west by rail. Most came from overcrowded orphanages, tenements, or the streets. Some had no parents. Others had parents who were poor, sick, or simply not consulted.
The program was called benevolent. Charities and religious groups said they were rescuing children—giving them a chance at fresh air, open land, and honest work. But records show how loosely it was managed. Children were displayed at depots and town halls, chosen by farmers and families, sometimes adopted, often used as labor. Siblings were separated. Names were changed. Paperwork was sparse.
Officially, it ended in 1929, but the scale remains staggering. A quarter of a million children moved like cargo across the country, many with no way back. It wasn’t called trafficking. It was called placement. And for decades, almost no one asked where they came from—or what became of them.
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