Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Placing Out: The Orphan Trains

An encore broadcast of its most recent historical documentary, "Placing Out: The Orphan Trains," will be on Smoky Hills Public Television on Thursday, Nov. 29, at 7:00 p.m.
Among those interviewed for the documentary were actual orphan train rider Ann Harrison, Lincoln, NB, and rider descendants Francis Schippers, Hays; Doloris Pfeifer Pederson, Russell; Walter Straub and Kevin Lockwood, both of Great Bend; and Sharla Thill, Ellinwood.
Between 1854 and 1929 an estimated 200,000 orphaned, abandoned and homeless children, primarily from cities in the East, were put on trains headed for the Midwest in hopes of finding new homes.