You're listening to American Shadows, a production of I Heart radio and Grimm and Mild

from Erin Manky.

In the 1850s, America was struggling.

Carpenters couldn't keep up with the daily influx of immigrants, a housing shortage loomed,

epidemics like smallpox and cholera and the lack of jobs further sent the country into

a depression.

Children whose parents died from one of the many diseases running rampant found themselves

orphaned, sometimes families who didn't want or couldn't afford their children abandoned

them.

Of the 500,000 New York City residents at the time, it's estimated that 30,000 were houseless

children.

Kids sold rags, matches or newspapers to survive.

Some worked in factories, others who joined street gangs were frequently arrested and

put into the same jails as adults.

Some of these children were just five years old.

There were orphanages, but not enough, and they rarely provided the education or care

children needed.

One Charles Loring Brace, a Protestant minister, thought orphanages amounted to little more

than warehouses and wanted more for the kids.

In 1853, he founded the Children's Aid Society.

He provided basic schooling and religious education, along with teaching kids a trade.

Unfortunately, the Children's Aid Society didn't have room for all the houseless children.

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