By Brandi Watters, Herald Bulletin Staff Writer
KNIGHTSTOWN — It all started with four orphans.
The original Indiana Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s Home wasn’t in Knightstown and was called something else.
Back in 1865, the children’s home was an orphanage located in Indianapolis called the Indiana Soldiers’ and Seamans’ Home.
It started when Indianapolis philanthropist George Merritt pitched the idea of attaching an orphanage to the Home for Disabled Soldiers to Gov. Oliver P. Morton and volunteered $5,000 toward the cost.
Morton rejected the idea, so Merritt, whose interest in the orphans of soldiers was born in the Union Army hospitals, decided to open the home in the military hospital. He started with a single caretaker and just four orphans.
Merritt’s interest in the orphans of Civil War veterans flourished as he watched soldiers die, leaving their children behind.
Originally, the home was meant to accommodate only the orphans of soldiers who fought in the Union Army.
In 1866, the home was moved to Knightstown, across the street from a hotel housing the Indiana Soldiers’ Home.
The state seized control of the children’s home and the soldier’s home and began caring for disabled veterans, veterans’ orphans under the age of 15, widows of deceased soldiers and the children of veterans who still had a surviving mother.
A fire destroyed the soldiers’ home in 1871, forcing the veterans into a home in Dayton, Ohio, and leaving the children’s home for children.
As the need for a home specifically for Civil War veterans’ children diminished with age, the home began accepting the children of any U.S. serviceman.
In 1887, the home was renamed the Indiana Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home.
From 1879 to 1887, the Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children located to the grounds of the home and shared communal areas such as the dining hall, hospital and church.
After the asylum was moved to Fort Wayne, the children’s home was renamed the Indiana Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s Home.
The home is located on 419 acres, which includes more than 50 buildings. Today, 116 students attend the school, but over the years, the population spiked at around 900 students.
Source: Indiana Commission on Public Records
Contact reporter Brandi Watters at 640-4847 and brandi.watters@heraldbulletin.com.
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ISTEP Average Percentage Passing
Since Mortion Memorial typically takes in children who’ve failed in the public school system, the school’s ISTEP percentages fall far below state averages.
Years State Avg. Morton Memorial School
2004-05 71.7 41.7
2005-06 72.9 47.1
2006-07 72.6 40.5
2007-08 73.4 46.8
2008-09 73.6 32.6
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Enrollment at Morton Memorial School
At one time, the school served 900 children. Since 2000, however, enrollment has been less than 160.
2000-01 104
2001-02 157
2002-03 100
2003-04 115
2004-05 145
2005-06 139
2006-07 135
2007-08 113
2008-09 107 (120 as of Jan. 26)
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Indiana Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s Home by the numbers
Year founded: 1865
Campus: 50+ buildings on 400+ acres
Cost per child, per year to keep the facility open, according to state health officials: $90,000
