Minnesota Now and Then: Remembering the Owatonna state school, Minnesota‘s early approach to child welfare

Minnesota Now

In the latest installment of Minnesota Now and Then — where we peek into our state's past to better understand its present — we go back to Minnesota's beginnings of child welfare.

From 1886 to 1946, Owatonna in southern Minnesota was home to the third largest institution for children without guardians in the country. Almost eleven thousand children spent time on the grounds while it was open. Although we have moved far beyond orphanages now, the creation of the Owatonna state school was a big step towards our current state child welfare system.

For more on the history of the so-called “state school,” MPR News host Cathy Wurzer talked with Anne Peterson, manager of the Minnesota State Public School Orphanage Museum in Owatonna.