Concordia welcome statue
At front rolled in at 9:30 last night. It brought a heavy wind that rocked the Minnie. It felt like the motorcycle was going to fall off the back of the Minnie. When the wind died down a bit the rain came. It was steady until 8:00 this morning. At times it down poured. The rain stayed around the area until noon. Where we were the rain stopped at 9:00 in the morning but the weather reports indicated the rain was going to hang around for a bit. The clouds stay in all day. It was a deary day.
The morning temperature was a cold 46 degrees. By the end of the day the high was a cold 54 degrees in Concordia.
We didn't leave Belleville until 12:15 pm. This is the latest we have ever left a campground. Larry didn't drive too far about 20 miles to Concordia, Kansas. The drive was down a highway. There were a couple of museum he wanted to see. First was The National Orphan Train Complex. The complex had three buildings. First was the Morgan-Dowell Welcome Center, where we were greeted, paid and watched a 14 minute video about the history of the orphan train. Second was the Morgan-Dowell Research Center, where we saw one of the orphan train cars and walked through it. Third was the National Orphan Train Museum, which is housed in a 1917 Union Pacific Depot. The museum has permanent exhibits about the beginning of the Orphan Train Movement in New York City, the Children's Aid Society and the New York Foundling Hospital. Other exhibits have stories of some of the children, the folks who started the movement and why.
There are 55 statues of orphans and each has a plaque about the orphan. Fifty-one of the statues were around Concordia and the other four are at: one at the POW Camp in Concordia, two in Jamestown and one in Clyde. It wasn't a good day to locate all 51 statues in town but we did see quite a few of them.
Morgan-Dowell Research Center and Morgan-Dowell Visitor Center
National Orphan Train Museum
Inside the Orphan Train
Orphan Train
Glen (adopted by Betty Homes)
Harold Reed Dowell (adopted by Harold & Joyce Dowell)
Mabel Rubin/Anne Gruele Harrison born in Russia (adopted by John and Anna Gruele)
Millie (adopted by the Tracy's Family)
Clara Reed Duckett Morgan (lived with Reverend Duckett and his wife)
Robert Frances (Miles) Summers (lived with Luke Summers and his wife)
Lela, James and Fred (Lela LaVine Reinhardt Newcombe, Fred Engert Swedenburg and James Reed Elliott)
In Memory of Darrell Donell by Campbell Johnson
A little girl and her dog by the Cloud County Historical Society Museum
Rudolph Jubelt
Michalena Birraglio and Lena Nelson
The Orphan Train Movement was between 1854 and 1929. They helped an estimation of 250,000 abandoned and homeless children. They were sent from New York City and other large cities to rural communities across the country and ten countries. The movement was one of the largest social reform relocation efforts in our nation's history and the beginning of documented foster care in America.
Map of the number of children and where they were relocated
Next stop was the Cloud County Historical Society Museum. The lady, who greeted us walked us through some of the exhibits and explained their importance of the past in Cloud County. She was very knowledgeable of the history. She said she still learning after working there for seven years. The museum was on two stories and had a lot of stuff. The museum was located in an old 1908 Carnegie Library building. There is over 100,000 artifacts in the museum. The exhibits for viewing are about nature, radio, railroads, quilts, toys, photography, vintage, clothing, furniture, musical instruments, fossils, tools, stained glass, military items, Prisoner of War Camp artifacts, household and farming equipment, rare coins and books, and a rock and gem shop. There was so much to see we probably missed some. It was very nice.
Cloud County Historical Society Museum (Carnegie Library)
Exhibit about Boston Corbett (a madman who killed John Wilkes Booth)
Charles H. Blosser 1928 Lincoln Page
Painting by Albert T. Reid on how the town use to look
School Classroom
Native American artifacts
Equipment used to make Nocona Boots
Beautiful rug with poplar bears on it
A display about when the circus came to town
Lester's Sweet Shop
After touring the museum we walked around the block and saw a Whole Wall Mural, it is the longest sculpted Brick Mural in the U.S. The mural was gorgeous. The work on the mural started in February of 2007 and the last brick was carved on April of 2008. The brick masons started working on the foundation April 13, 2009 and first brick was put in April 14, 2009. The last brick was put in June 5, 2009. They finished the rest of the work over the summer. The mural is the history of Cloud County. We saw a huge chair so I had to sit on it.
The Longest Sculpted Brick Mural in the U.S. artist Catharine Magel
Mural broken down in sections
Beginning of the mural is about the historic buildings, Charles Blosser's 1928 Lincoin Page biplane
Charles Blosser's biplane, Baker Monitor Windmill and the river
Left middle was about 1935 John Deere Tractor, Millersville, Orphan Train riders and sunflowers
Right center was Pioneer woman and man planting, Cloud Ceramics, World War II German POW Camp and cottonwood tree
The end was American soldier and German POW, Army truck, the train and Prairie Gem School
Sitting on the giant chair
After walking around we went back to the Minnie. Next stop was Walmart to pick up a few things.
The final stop was at Concordia City Park. It was 3:00 and we were ready to call it a day. We had no problem finding a spot for the night. We picked #14, it was a back in. The park works on first come first serve and donations. We were here in the Fall of 2024. It's located across the street from Walmart. It has power and water at each site and a bathroom with running water. It has a dog park and airport. It's a cute little park.
Concordia City Park
Once we were set up we spent the rest of the day relaxing.
Larry finished the book he started yesterday. I continued reading The Curse of Pietro Houdini and finished it. The book was excellent and well written by Derek B. Miller.
I finished playing my games. Before leaving City of Belleville Rocky Pond Recreation Area I did the Daily Challenges of Solitaire and Mahjong. I started the event and finished it in the evening. The event was Event: Free Cell Mini of 10 games. It took me 1 hour, 2 minutes and 54 seconds to complete, which put me in 14th place in my group. I played Angry Birds Friends and Angry Birds 2.
I ended up doing 4,000 steps. I was a little lazy and didn't want to walk around the park in the evening.
We had a great day even though it rained. While we walked around Concordia we had a few flakes of snow. It didn't stick because it was 50 degrees. I thought it was ashes but when I touch them they just evaporated.
