History Talk! Louisiana Orphan Train Museum

Martha Aubert, president of the board of the Louisiana Orphan Train Museum in Opelousas, and James Douget, board member of the museum, will discuss the cultural institution and the orphan train movement, at 7 p.m., Monday, Sept. 23, at the East Bank Regional Library, 4747 W. Napoleon, Metairie.

This program was previously held in January at the library but has returned because of its popularity. It is free of charge and open to the public. There is no registration.

The LA Orphan Train Society is a non-profit organization dedicated to collecting and preserving items that tell the history of the orphan train riders who came to the area by train from The New York Foundling Hospital. Using this collection to inform and educate the public of the orphan train movement in America from 1854 to 1929.

The Orphan Train Movement, a welfare program that was in place between 1853 and 1930. During this time, more than 200,000 orphaned children were transported to foster homes typically in rural areas in the Midwest.

Between 1873 and 1929, more than 2,000 “Orphan Train Riders” came to Louisiana from the New York Foundling Hospital. Because of an increase in the number of occupants, the Sisters of Charity in New York contacted local Catholic priests asking for assistance. In the spring of April and May in 1907 three trains arrived in Opelousas with children from the Foundling Home wearing identification numbers that would match them to their new Catholic foster families.

The museum has a large collection of original documents, clothing, and images on display and many of the museum’s volunteers are descendants of orphan train riders. Visitors can also see statues on the grounds and the Orphan Train mural, depicting the arrival of the riders.

The museum is the only one of its kind in Louisiana and second in the nation to the Orphan Train Museum in Concordia, Kansas.