Did you know that most orphan trains to Wisconsin were organized by the Catholic Church? There was a member of the WI legislature who was adamantly opposed to orphan trains, feeling that "riff-raff" from New York City would be dumped in WI and eventually become welfare cases. Catholic ones were allowed because the structure to check up on the children was already in place. The priests pretty well assigned people to accept children, and in some cases took orphans themselves.