2023 YEAR IN REVIEW: National Orphan Train Complex Celebrates 20 Years of Research, Education and Preservation

As we enter into the final days of 2023, this week KNCK News is beginning our annual look back, revisiting some of the biggest stories from the past year.

The National Orphan Train Complex in Concordia held its 20th Annual Celebration of Orphan Train Riders this past June.

The complex collects and preserves the history of the Orphan Train movement, which began in 1854 and carried orphaned and destitute children and impoverished adults from the east coast into the West to find a new life.  This resettlement system continued through the Civil War and World War I, finally ending in 1929.

The complex houses files on over 6,000 Orphan Train riders and hundreds of unique objects owned by Orphan Train riders, their families, and other individuals and agencies involved in the movement.

The Orphan Train Heritage Society of America, Inc. was founded in 1986 in Springdale, Arkansas.  While working as a publisher's assistant on the Washington County History Book project, founder Mary Ellen Johnson learned that a group of children had been delivered to Springdale in 1912 and taken in by local families.

By the end of 1986, Johnson was so invested in the Orphan Train movement that she founded the Orphan Train Heritage Society of America, which was officially incorporated in 1987.  As soon as the society started they began receiving requests for information about Orphan Train riders.

In 1988, they held the first reunion of orphan train riders with over 100 people in attendance. 

A 1989 episode of Unsolved Mysteries featuring an Orphan Train rider's search for her brother resulted in a flood of interest in the Orphan Train movement, and the Orphan Train Heritage Society of America took off.

Until 2003, Mary Ellen and other members of the Orphan Train Heritage Society of America collected information and artifacts from Orphan Train riders, with the goal of one day founding a museum dedicated to preserving the history of the movement.

Meanwhile, a group of people in Concordia were interested in founding an Orphan Train Museum.  They organized in 2000, calling themselves the Railroad Depot/Orphan Train Museum committee, and operated under Cloud County Community College.  Then, in 2001, when Beth Whisler donated the 1917 Union Pacific Depot to the college for use by the committee, things really took off. 

The group renamed themselves the Orphan Train Depot Project, and began campaigning for the archives to be moved to Concordia.

In March of 2003, Johnson and the Orphan Train Heritage Society of America announced that Concordia had been chosen.

The depot was added to the National Register of Historic Places and the organization was renamed the National Orphan Train Complex in May 2003.

The first Orphan Train Rider Celebration was hosted a month later.

The next year, the exterior renovation of the depot was completed, and Burlington Northern-Santa Fe Railroad sold the land around the depot that allowed the museum to expand beyond the historic depot.

In 2005, Robert and Wanda Morgan donated the money that allowed for the construction of the Morgan-Dowell Welcome Center, which was completed two years later, in 2007. 

On September 15, 2007, the National Orphan Train Complex held its grand opening, becoming one of only two Orphan Train museums in the country.

Visitors to the museum will find life size photographs and information about 19th century New York City and the Orphan Train movement.  They will also see exhibits and displays about riders and their experiences with new families in the west. 

Johnson is thankful for the small group of dedicated volunteers in Concordia for making sure a piece of American history is never forgotten.

In 2015, the City of Concordia approached the National Orphan Train Complex Board of Directors with a proposal to rebrand Concordia as the Orphan Train Town.

Part of this proposal included the suggestion of installing statues of Orphan Train riders around town. 

The first Orphan Train rider statue was unveiled at the Broadway Plaza in downtown Concordia in 2016.  Since then, nearly 50 statues have been placed in Concordia and Cloud County, each representing a real Orphan Train rider and sponsored by a business, family, or organization.

Johnson told KNCK News she was amazed to see the beautiful statues dedicated to Orphan Train riders and their stories. 

A statue was installed in the Concordia City Park this year in loving memory of longtime Concordia resident Betty Losh, who passed away in 2022 at the age of 84.  The statue honors Orphan Train Rider Mary Ring.

During its Annual Celebration of Orphan Train Riders, a statue sponsored by Sherry Burton and honoring riders George Washington Timmons Stone and Joseph Benjamin Timmons Stone was installed at Hood Park.

And two new plaques have been placed in the courtyard at the National Orphan Train Complex, honoring riders Lela Newcombe and Fred Swedenberg.

The National Orphan Train Complex also launched a new traveling exhibit this year, called "All Aboard the Orphan Train!"

Curator Kaily Carson says she hopes the exhibit introduces people in the host communities to a story that it seems history tried to forget.

Next year, the traveling exhibit will visit the McCracken Public Library in McCracken, Kansas, the Osage County Historical Society in Lyndon, Kansas, the Ellis County Historical Society in Hays, Kansas, the Gove County Historical Museum in Quinter, Kansas, and the Ottawa Library in Ottawa, Kansas, along with stops in Illinois, Iowa and Texas.

Sibylline Press has announced the publication of "The Bereaved: A Novel" by Julia Park Tracey.  Released in August 2023 in paperback and ebook formats, the book is available wherever books are sold, including indie bookstores, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Target and Walmart.

The book is a mesmerizing work of historical fiction illuminating the darkest side of the Orphan Train.  Tracey based the book on her own research into her grandfather's past as an adopted child.  With the help of the National Orphan Train Complex, Tracey learned about her grandfather's family of origin and how he came to be adopted, and was surprised to discover records for his three unknown siblings. 

Tracey tells KNCK News the book, set in 1859, is a historical novel about the Orphan Train and the mothers left behind.

The National Orphan Train Complex has this novel to their Gift Shop, in rotation with other historical fiction novels.

The National Orphan Train Complex is located at 300 Washington Street in Concordia.