(The Herald-Palladium posted the following article by Mark Anderson on its website on July 1.)
DOWAGIAC, Mich. — Come Labor Day weekend 2004, Dowagiac will host a re-enactment to commemorate the time when trains brought orphans from New York to grateful families to the west.
City officials have learned that the Orphan Train Heritage Society of America, based in Springdale, Ark., wants to celebrate a special 150th anniversary in Dowagiac. The City Council last week agreed to the society’s request for the three-day observance.
City Manager William Nelson Jr. said a local Methodist minister helped the orphans find adoptive parents. Dowagiac was a principal drop-off area for orphans and was used as a test community for such adoptions, which were said to have worked out well. The same approach to finding homes for orphans was used in other towns.
Mayor Don Lyons and the rest of the council said they were glad that this interesting part of Dowagiac’s history is going to be recognized with such a celebration.
According to Mary Ellen Johnson, who wrote the following on the society’s Web site (orphantrainriders.com):
“The history of the railroads is deeply tied to the history of the ‘Orphan Trains Era’ in America. Railroads were the most inexpensive way to move children westward from poverty-filled homes, orphanages, poor houses, and off the streets.
“In the West, and Midwest … solid, God-fearing homes could be found for the children. Food would be plentiful with pure air to breathe, and a good work ethic developed by living on a farm would help them to grow into mature, responsible adults able to care for themselves.”
The first group of children went to Dowagiac in 1854, Johnson said.
“Annual reports of the Children’s Aid Society prints selected letters from the children. Glowing reports of a good life with a caring family often close with a wistful, ‘If you should see my brother, please tell him where I am,'” she also wrote.
More details will be announced as they become available.