By Andy Dahn

BLOOMINGTON – An upcoming lecture will tell the story of an orphans’ home in Normal that housed children of Illinois Civil War veterans for more than 100 years.

The Illinois Soldiers’ Orphans’ Home, later known as Illinois Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Children’s School opened in June of 1869. The four story building in Northeast Normal wasn’t just home for children all over Illinois. Local historian and author Ruth Cobb said children were also given an education and learned key skills from Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan student teachers.

“They were taught to do things like the blacksmith’s trade or farm,” Cobb said. “There were actual plots of land on the grounds of the home where they raised food to feed. There were originally 180 orphans in 1869 when it opened. The peak number was over 700 in 1937.”

Cobb said the home provided the children with a caring and educational environment.

“The people that worked there, the people in this community, the American Legion and Auxiliary units from all over the state,” said Cobb. “They all provided a lot of support in many ways for the children living there to make things a little better.”

Thanks to educators at the school, many children that lived in the home went on to become teachers.

“They were university faculty people,” Cobb said. “So sometimes they had people with pretty high quality degrees teaching the children at the home. So many of them who were there consistently express so much appreciation for the education that they received. It inspired many of them to go on and become teachers.”

Cobb will speak Sunday at 2 p.m. as part of the Normal 1-5-0 Lecture series. The home was closed in 1979, but Cobb will speak on the site where the original home once stood, Normal’s Community Activity Center.

Andy Dahn can be reached at [email protected].