Moorman Orphan's Home - Winchester, IN - Remains of Settlements on Waymarking.com

James Moorman, born in North Carolina in 1795 came to Wayne county Indiana with his widowed mother and two brothers shortly after the loss his father when he was 6. He never forgot his boyhood experiences and made arrangements in his will to fund this orphanage far into the future. It operated until 1961 when it could no longer afford to meet state required upgrades to the facility. Jame's gift was not lost though, it continues to serve as the assets were set aside and are distributed to local students to continue their education upon graduating from high school.

It all started shortly after his death, as noted from this quote from his biography "The board has selected the site for new buildings, and has been examining plans with a view of erecting, as soon as possible, a house with the modern conveniences suitable for an Orphans' Home, at a cost of about $10,000 and a barn sufficiently commodious for the uses of the farm. If the present plans and expectations of the board can be executed it is safe to predict that the James Moorman Orphans' Home of Randolph County, will be the best, and most elegant and convenient place of its kind in the state." As of 2008 even though the home has been gone for 50 years the James Moorman Orphans Home still holds assets of nearly $120,000 that distributed over $16,000 in scholarships in just one year.

When James came to Wayne county he cleared the land his mother acquired himself with ax in hand. He continued to farm and save his money. Eventually lending those savings to others in the area it led to his move to Winchester in 1860 where he founded the Winchester Bank. By the the time of his death at age 93 he was a very welth man and had acquired over 8000 acres.

But he not only left money for the orphanage, he was quite specific in how it was to be run. He named the first seven member board of directors, stated that the children were not to wear uniforms (as uniforms would make them look different than other children). Employees were to be of high moral character, and not users of tobacco, liquor, or profanity. He specified that the children were to be treated gently in all situations, only kind and persuasive measures were to be used. He expected that bigger and better building would be needed and left a building fund for just that. In 1894 a barn was built and in 1898 a 52 room home was built. It was brick with stone trim and slate roof. It had state of the art plumbing and heating systems. The superintendent and matron's quarters were on the second and third floors across the front of the home. The rest of the upper two floor were divided for boys on the west and girls on the east. The sleeping quarters were on the third floor. Each side had a 20 bed dormitory. There were usually between 10 and 25 children living at the home. Records show 637 children resided ta the home in it's 73 years of operation.

After its closure in 1961 the property was sold at public auction in 1968 By 1970 the board set up the James Moorman Scholarship Fund that continues on today. The building razed in 1973.

The orphanage main home was located at the coordinates. Some stairs and sidewalks still remain as well as the well pit and well. A garden mound with spring bulbs emerge each year just west of the home site. The barn was located at 40 10.443 , 85 1.333

Terrain: Recommended access: N 40° 10.283 W 085° 01.244 Parking: Not Listed

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Date Logged Log   10/26/2011 DnRseekers visited it