Fairmount Orphanage- Fairmount Children’s Home

Fairmount Orphanage

I have been wanting to get inside this place for a while, so Saturday I set off to gain access to this Historical old building, I also wanted to get out and take some shots with my new Canon mirrorless body, the EOS R. The weather here has been crappy and Saturday morning was no different, about 17 degrees and snow flying. The is the Fairmount Orphanage or Fairmount Children’s Home it is located on the outskirts of Alliance Ohio. A local garden business was located on this property for quite some time and the place was off-limits to creative explorers. But recently I noticed the business was no longer open so I set out to explore a bit.

Fairmount Orphanage II

The institution opened on Oct. 20, 1876, the Campus was very large on about 100 acres. In  1847 an act was passed by the state legislature authorizing counties to join together for the formation of children’s home districts. Following the Civil War, hundreds of Ohio children were left homeless. The children? They came from everywhere, and they were taken to the home for a variety of reasons, they were kids who had no parents, kids that had one parent, or kids that had two parents who couldn’t take care of them. Sometimes they were kids who had to be taken out of their homes.

Fairmount Orphanage III

The school operated through nearly 10 decades until Stark County commissioners closed the facility in 1973. The county sold the facility and families lived in it — at one point several at the same time — through the 1990s. No one was residing in the home, however, when it was destroyed by flames in December 2002. This one structure which I think is the main entrance is the only building left standing, but I may be wrong because the cottages for the living quarters were built with the same design. There is also a small graveyard for the Children’s home located across the street, looks like mother nature has taken over and I might try to find this when weather is a bit better, it’s a wooded area now. I have a few more shots I took of the inside I will share later. It was fun to get out and shoot with a new toy!

Thanks for stopping

This Post Has 16 Comments

  1. Interesting. I’m doing some investigative work about an oil painting that is believed to be the “Fairmount Children’s Home”. If I find more, I’ll stop back in, thanks!

  2. I lived there when I was a child, I was in the little girl cottage then big girl cottage. The building that burnt was the main building. It was where intakes were done, where dining room was, & upstairs was where big girls lived & slept & where the matron also stayed I quarters specific for her. Across the hall was where Mr & Mrs. Beamer lived with their two children. All of this was contained within the walls of the main building.

  3. 72-76 there too

  4. Very interesting..my maternal grandparents resided there. Grandma was head cook and grandpa was the security guard and/or maintenance. I lived there with them when I was 8 yrs old (1964-65). I have pictures of alot of the people and a lot of stories!

  5. My mother was there also her brothers and sisters my mother was about year and half old her last name was Cunningham she passed away years ago did you know her

  6. I remember Cindy stein

  7. Hello Brother🤗

  8. Wow! I stopped there before it burned and walked around, you could hear the voices on the wind. I stopped because my Mom was there from 1943-44 to 1947-48, not sure I lost her several years ago. Her name was Carol (DeGraff) was her adopted name.

  9. My grandmother was there My mom’s mom

  10. My mother, Dorothy Geisinger and her brothers, Joseph, Walter and Edward were all raised there. Between the years 1934- 1950.

  11. I was about 6 mos old and resided here with my half brother for 2 yrs.v1953-1955.my mother was divorced and was jailed working as a prostitude and we were placed in fairmont children’s home by the courts..my half brother was 3 yrs older and his father got custody one day and the home refused to separate us as brothers and he was forced to take me as well…he didn’t want me,but had no other choice..I ended up with a life of abuse until I ran away…I can only remember a woman dressed in black with a white apron and black stockings tending to me in a stroller with a large sun cap on it and being taken to the front yard under a tree. I often wonder if was a Mennonite working there as many Mennonites lived in that area on farms..while working in my local hospital later in life,I had a patient who was a former Mennonite teacher in Fairmont as one of the last teachers to leave..I told me of the abuse and rape of young boys and he quit.

  12. Hi Mike..I’m cousin Mertie..your Aunt Martha’s daughter…Did you know that Linda and I was placed in this home in the 50’s ?

  13. My grandmother who was born in 1921 lived at Fairmount from 1925ish until 1939ish. She never spoke about her life there other than to say it was better than her home life. Ironically enough, we’ve been able to trace her family 13 generations back to the Mayflower. She never knew she had such an important lineage. Does anyone know how to find photos of the kids that are dated? My grandparents and parents are gone so I have no connection to her past other than maybe finding something on the internet.

  14. My grandma lived there with her sister for 14 years from 1925ish to 1939ish. Their names were Maudie Marie Samantha Soules and Geraldine Soules.

  15. In regards to the cemetery, it is on the same side of the street, not across. Just north of the greenhouses. It is well maintained and easily visible on Google street view. It is called the Friends of Fairmount Cemetery.

  16. My dad and uncle ( last name Saddler) lived there until the late 60s early 70s. They’ve claimed it was a horrible place to be.

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Fairmount Orphanage