American Furniture, Folk and Decorative Arts

Note

The Mount Joy Soldier's Orphan School, Lancaster County, was founded in 1864 to educate the children of Pennsylvania Civil War soldiers killed or disabled defending the Union. 50,000 of the over 400,000 Pennsylvanians who fought in the Civil War, were killed during the conflict and another 100,000 were left unable to work leaving thousands of orphaned and/or penniless children behind. In an effort to properly educate, clothe and house these orphans a system schools was established throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania under the leadership of Governor Andrew Curtin (1817-1894). The Mount Joy Soldier's Orphan School was opened in an existing school building, The Mount Joy Academy, and ten additional acres were purchased by the state. Mount Joy had a band and military drills for the boys. Girls had calisthenics. Children attended until the age of 16 and these "Sixteeners" were to receive guidance from members of the local Grand Army of the Republic upon graduation. At its peak over 300 children attended the school. For many years Mount Joy was considered the pride managed Orphans' schools. By the mid 1880's charges of mismanagement and corruption appeared in newspapers and government reports. In 1890, it was the last of the Commonwealth Soldier's Orphans schools to close.

Literature

Gerald S. Lestz, Artist's Album/Lancaster County: Two Centuries of America's Garden Spot Through the Eyes of the Artists (1983), illustrated p. 57.