Christmas at St. Joseph's Orphanage

Children pose with their toys at St. Joseph's Orphan Home, Green Bay, ca. 1955. The orphanage was established in 1877 by the Sisters of Notre Dame as the St. Joseph Orphan Asylum, and was located on the corner of Crooks and Webster Streets. After a few years at this location, the orphanage received a new building overlooking the Fox River, near Woodland Cemetery in Allouez, and was renamed the St. Joseph's Orphan Home. By the late 1890s, more than 200 orphans and half-orphans lived at the institution each year, as well as receiving practical and spiritual education. It was noted within the community that the children not only received basic care, but the nuns did their best to take the children on special trips and provide toys at Christmas. Once the children became teen-agers, the girls were placed within homes as domestics and the boys found jobs as farm workers. Eventually, the institution became a home for boys, allowing high school age boys to remain. In 1980 the institution finally closed as foster care and other social services for children became predominate. The Henry Lefebvre Collection.