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Torn down in
1992, the boys’ cottage (on the right) was on the south side of the main building,
while the girls’ cottage was on the north side. The kitchen, storage rooms, and
dining hall were in the basement of the main building. The Superintendent’s office
and living area were on the first floor, while the second floor contained bedrooms for the
cooks, laundry people, and seamstress. The third floor served as a hospital and rooms for
high school girls. The author notes that the belfry over the main building was removed in
about 1939 and the front entry was changed at the same time.
We re-soled our own
shoes, made scooters (with boards and old roller skates) and go-carts using old doll-baby
buggy wheels. We made our own fun. We had a lot of cats and dogs as pets. People would
drop them off along the road at the bottom of the hill. We would take them in and feed
them. After that they had a life of ease. When they died we buried them in our little pet
cemetery down by the barn.
A lot of the boys went into the service when they became of
age or after graduation. We lost one of our "brothers" in World War II and two in the Korean War.
In 1978 I got together with Charles Frazier and we decided to have a reunion. We had a
good turnout for the first one. Each time fewer people attended, so after the fourth one
we gave it up.
Over the years a lot of the kids have passed on, but from time to time I still see some
of the ones that are left. The kids that were in the home when I was are still my
"brothers and sisters."
You had to take the bad times with the good but I remember more of the good times. Some
of the kids remember things the other way. Whatever took place was a product of the times
and the people involved.
"The county commissioners have ordered plans for a barn
to be erected on children's home farm" (Sidney Daily News, July 27, 1899). The
barn burned about 1943, according to Bevans. "After we threshed wheat that year,
there was a fresh stack of straw next to the barn. Well, two fellows were smoking
and..."
Shelby County Children’s Home
1897-1976
(Excerpted from Shelby
County Children’s Home, Sidney, Ohio, published by the Shelby County
Genealogical Society.)
In 1866 the Ohio General Assembly, in response to a dramatic increase of homeless
children following the Civil War,
authorized boards of county commissioners to construct orphans’ asylums or other
facilities and to levy taxes to pay for them. The 1866 legislation also established a
five-man board of trustees for such homes appointed by the board of the county
commissioners. The trustees were authorized to hire a superintendent to administer the
home and adjoining counties could establish a district children’s home.
Children’s homes accepted children who were orphaned, abandoned, neglected,
inadequately provided for by the parents, or placed in the home by the juvenile court.
In 1893 the people of Shelby County voted the money to build the Children’s Home. In July 1894 the
county commissioners purchased a farm on a hilltop about one mile southeast of Sidney,
containing 142 acres for $7,562. About 70 acres were tillable, the rest being wood and
pasture lands. Total cost of the home and farm was about $30,000. The home was dedicated
Nov. 4, 1897, and was opened a short time after. The children from Shelby County, living
at the Logan County Children’s Home, were transferred to the new home.
The Children’s Home schoolhouse, east of
the girls’ cottage, was closed in 1939 and converted
into living quarters for an
employee. It was torn down in 1965.
Shelby County Children’s Home
1897-1976
(Excerpted from Shelby
County Children’s Home, Sidney, Ohio, published by the Shelby County
Genealogical Society.)
A two-story school (with grades 1 to 4 on the first floor and grades 5 to 8 on the
second floor) was built in 1903 from money left in the will of Mrs. Mary Barkdull who died
in 1898. A tablet was encased in the front wall bearing these words: Barkdull Memorial
1903. The school was closed at the end of the 1939 school year and the children were sent
to Orange Township School on U.S. Route 25. The Children’s Home School was later
converted into living quarters for Mr. and Mrs. Charles Davis, who were employed at the
Home as farmhand and cook, and their daughter. The school building was torn down in
February 1965.
The farm was leased out and the cows sold in the 1960’s. The children were placed
in foster homes and the Children’s Home was closed in 1976 after 79 years of service.
The boys’ and girls’ cottages were torn down during the summer of 1992.
The Shelby County Children’s Home was a popular subject
for postcards, a common means of communication at the turn of the century. The face of
this card reads: "Copyright 1905 by the Rotograph Co. Orphans Home for Children,
Sidney, O." A bottom left corner date, 1999, appears to be a misprint, or possibly a
serial number for the card. The boys’ and girls’ cottages, on either side of the
main building, were torn down in 1992.
Shelby County Children’s Home
Book For Sale
The Shelby County Genealogical
Society offers this book for sale: Shelby County Children’s Home, Sidney, Ohio. Information
on Home, 1892-1974. List of superintendents and matrons, known employees, children who
resided there. 66 pages, softbound. $15. Ohio residents add $0.98 tax. Shipping and
handling included in price. Order from Shelby County Genealogical Society, 17755 St. Rt.
47, Sidney, OH 45365-9242.
Residents of the Children’s Home play on the
hill overlooking the "sheep lot"
to where the Big Four Railroad Bridge was built
in 1924.
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