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SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2017
Oregon’s orphans history reflected in ‘Annie’
P
rivately organized in
late 1865 by a group of
Salem women, the
Children’s Aid Society had as
its first objective a refuge “for
orphaned and friendless chil-
dren” anywhere in the state. In
1869, the Glen Oaks Orphans’
Home was built in East Salem
on 10 acres of donated land
across from what would later
become the “insane asylum.”
Private donations and mem-
berships in the society were
sufficient to maintain the
home until 1872, when the
society requested aid from the
Legislature. That initial grant
of $3,000 for operating
expenses continued for the
next 25 years. The county also
provided funds.
Vice presidents of the soci-
ety were appointed for each
county in the state. Their
responsibilities involved find-
ing and transporting any
needy children to the Salem
home, where the Board of
Managers was charged with
finding good adoptive homes
for the children.
After 33 years in existence,
the Glen Oaks Orphans’
Home ceased operation in
1898 due to a lack of funding
by the Legislature. Homes
were found for as many of the
23 remaining children in the
orphanage as possible.
In 1900, there were close to
1,000 such institutions in the
United States housing an esti-
mated 100,000 children.
There were county orphan-
ages, Catholic, Protestant and
Jewish orphanages, and non-
sectarian children’s homes run
by private charities. Most
orphanages disappeared in the
reforms of the early 20th cen-
tury along with poorhouses,
tuberculosis sanitariums and
other sorts of asylums.
An idea for what was to
become the Children’s Farm
Home outside Corvalis was
born in October 1919, when
Mary Powers Riley proposed
to the Oregon chapter of the
Wo m e n ’s C h r i s t i a n
Temperance Union that the
WCTU assist in building and
operating a facility where
orphans and other homeless
children could live in a home-
like environment. The WCTU
purchased 253 acres of farm-
land in 1922.
On Sept. 6, 1923, the
Telegraph, a Portland newspa-
per, reported that the Klu Klux
Klan had pledged $50,000 to a
new, Protestant-based orphan-
age in the mid-Willamette
Valley in what may have been
in response to the establish-
ment of the Catholic Boys
Town by Irish immigrant
priest, Father Flanagan.
Though the Farm Home has
no record of the Klansmen
ever making good on their
Senior Center
presents spaghetti
dinner, live music
On Saturday, Nov. 18,
Florence Senior Center is
hosting a spaghetti dinner
and live dance music by 3
Man Slam.
Dinner is from 5:30 to 6:30
p.m.
People are encouraged to
dance with the great sounds
of 3 Man Slam from 6:30 to
9:30 p.m.
Buy tickets in advance for
$20 per couple or $10 per
person.
Tickets at the door will be
$30 per couple or $15 per
person.
There will also be a 50/50
drawing and door prizes.
Stop by the Florence
Senior
Center,
1570
Kingwood St., to purchase
tickets.
For more information, call
541-997-8844.
B Y P AULA Z IEGELASCH
L AST R ESORT P LAYERS
promise.
The WCTU welcomed the
first 23 residents of the
Children’s Farm Home on
July 10, 1923. The WCTU
controlled the Farm Home
until 1963, though by the late
1950s, the state was paying
institutional care only for
delinquent and emotionally
disturbed children, preferring
to use foster homes for other
dependent kids.
Today, the Children’s Farm
Home is operated by Trillium
Family Services. Over the
second half of the 20th centu-
ry, it evolved from an agricul-
tural orphanage to a psychi-
atric treatment center and is
still caring for young people
at its now 300-acre site
It may have been the popu-
lar comic strip Little Orphan
Annie, created by Harold
Gray and appearing Aug. 5,
1924 in the New York Daily
News, that the plight of
orphan children sparked a
progressive movement lead-
ing to social change in the atti-
tude of public concern. Cited
by Encyclopedia Britannica as
“One of the most popular
comic strips of all time,” Gray
cartoon portrayed the orphan,
“Annie,” as a neglected,
abused yet positive and hope-
ful child of 11.
Gray, himself a conserva-
tive Republican, was opposed
to President Franklin D.
Roosevelt’s “New Deal” and
the Social Security Act of
1935, which included provi-
sion for aid to dependent chil-
dren, crippled children’s pro-
grams and child welfare that
eventually led to the expan-
sion of foster care.
Oregon continues to pro-
vide state aid to privately-con-
ducted charitable institutions.
These institutions receive
state aid approved when by
the state board of health, with
the State Board of Control
investigating the claims of
these institutions, and check-
ing the number of inmates and
the records.
According to Sandy Zinn,
Research Librarian at the
Siuslaw Pioneer Museum,
there were no orphanages in
Florence as the population
didn’t warrant it. However,
earliest records do show that a
woman in Ada was known to
have taken in children in need.
“The average child will be
placed in foster home seven
times” according to adoptive
parent and social commentary
writer Kenneth A. Camp.
“The one consistency these
kids have is the friends they
develop in school and even
perhaps with a trusted teacher,
so having to locate out of their
school district may contribute
to their hardships,” he wrote.
To d a y, t h e O r e g o n
Department of Human
Services estimates there are
some 10,000 children living
in, or needing, a foster home
in Oregon. There is currently
a critical need for Oregon fos-
ter families.
They have indicated a par-
ticular need to locate foster
families in Florence.
Because of this, The
upcoming Last Resort Players
production of “Annie, the
Broadway Musical” will
sponsor a raffle to help benefit
PASS q PORT
ART
FLORENCE
| OREGON
the unplaced foster children of
Florence.
Performances
at
the
Florence Events Center
(eventcenter.org) continue this
weekend, Nov. 10, 11 and 12.
To help you
navigate
all the Florence
art community
has to off er
Pick Up
YOURS
Today!
Passports are available at the following locations:
Florence Area Chamber of Commerce
Th e Siuslaw News
FRAA - Florence Regional Arts Alliance
Backstreet Gallery
Vardanian Gallery
Th e River Gallery
Rodger Bennett Photography
Purple Pelican
Siuslaw Public Library
Florence Events Center
Florence City Hall
BeauxArts Fine Art Materials & Gallery