Fairfield County Children's Home

In the first decades of the 1800s orphans were indentured into private homes where they were to work or learn a trade. The Overseer of the Poor was authorized by the township trustees to place a child in servitude. This was done not only with orphans, but also with children from poor families in order to prevent them from becoming wards of the township. A contract was entered into stating what work the child was to perform and for how many years. Some Ohio counties, including Fairfield, kept detailed records of indentured children. 

Social policies were shaped nationally in the 1820s to the 1840s. During this era of reform, state and county institutions were established to care for people who could not care for themselves. The prevailing thought was that such people should be given asylum from any of society’s corrupting influences. By institutionalizing them their rehabilitation could be controlled and eventually mold them into contributing members of society. In Ohio, separate institutional facilities were built for the deaf and dumb, lunatic, and blind. Children with any of these afflictions were sent to the respective state institution. 

The care of paupers and the elderly was handled on a countywide basis beginning with legislation enacted in 1816 that allowed for county poor houses. These facilities became known as infirmaries in 1850 as their mission had been expanded to care for the ill and infirm as well. Orphaned and impoverished children were often sent to county infirmaries to live if they were not indentured. 

Charitable organizations and individual philanthropists believed that orphaned or abandoned children could become productive citizens if they were raised properly. Private charities and religious organizations began to construct orphanages as early as the mid-1800s in Ohio. The main objective of these homes was to improve the conditions for orphaned children by separating them from the adult “inmates” in the county homes, infirmaries, and poor houses. A few of the earlier documented children’s homes include the Dayton Female Association for the Benefit of Orphans established in 1844 and the Colored Orphans Asylum in Avondale, Ohio, established in 1845. The first public-funded children’s home in Ohio was founded by Mrs. Catherine Fay Ewing of Marietta in 1858. Ewing’s orphanage initially began with the purchase of fifteen acres outside Marietta funded from an inheritance. After the Civil War, there was a dramatic increase in the number of orphans. Believing that they deserved more from the county than the social stigma of life in the county infirmary, Ewing began a crusade for legislative change. Working with the support of Washington County commissioners, she petitioned the Ohio General Assembly to enact legislation establishing separate facilities for children. Her efforts failed twice before finally becoming law in 1866. As a result, Ohio was the first state to pass legislation providing for separate children’s homes at the county level. 

Previous to the establishment of the Fairfield County Children’s Home, orphaned children were placed in the county infirmary. In 1883 the county purchased twenty-eight-and-a-half-acres from the Grier family for a sum of seven-thousand-dollars for the purpose of establishing a separate home for orphans. An existing frame house on the site housed the orphans while the new structure was under construction. Under the direction of general contractor David Cowden, construction on the new three-story brick building began in 1883. Several community leaders gathered at the site on April 18, 1885 for the placement of the cornerstone. Amasa Gillett was appointed as the first superintendent on August 20, 1883, and his wife, Sarah, served as the matron. Following the construction of the new brick building, the frame house became the administrative office and superintendent’s residence. 

The Home was designed to house sixty children at one time. Outbuildings were also located on the property and the children were expected to with household and farm chores. The children were to adopt good work ethic and sense of responsibility by participating in chores. This work also provided the necessary help in maintaining the facility and putting food on the table. By tending a farm, the Home was able to be mostly self-sustaining and less of a burden on the county’s budget. 

Fairfield County Children's Home, National Register of Historic Places. Accessed December 29th 2020. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71988247.

Fairfield County Children's Home, Ohio History Collection. Accessed January 22nd 2021. https://ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/p267401coll34/id/9089/.