Boys Town
Many years ago I went to Omaha, the largest city in the state of Nebraska, located just west of the Missouri River. I went to visit the Boys Town National Institute of Communicative Disorders in Children, an institution devoted to diagnose and establish educational conducts for children with problems in language acquisition, including profound hearing loss. This Institute is particularly interesting, because in the same building there is a very modern hospital, the o Boys Town National Research Hospital, so that the children who need surgical treatment, including cochlear implants, can get immediate attention. I was invited to visit the Institute by the late Dr. John Bordley, who was then a Professor Emeritus of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, in Baltimore. The President of the Institute was Dr. Patrick E. Brookhouser, one of Dr. Bordley’s former residents. Patrick remained very active until his death in 2011.
On a beautiful afternoon Dr. Bordley and Patrick took me to Boys Town, which is very close to Omaha. It was Patrick who told me the story that I am going to tell you. This is a little different from what you read in the Boys Town site or in Wikipedia, but this was what I was told.
Father Edward J. Flanagan, a catholic priest, on opening the door of his parish on a certain morning, found a basket with a carefully wrapped baby inside. He felt that to send this baby to an orphanage was not a very good idea, so he asked the Archbishop’s permission to educate the child in the parish. The permission was granted.
Approximately six month later he found another basket with another baby.
By the time that he was taking care of several children, a journalist found out about it and published in one the Omaha’s newspaper a report on the wonderful thing that Father Flanagan was doing. The result of this report is that many, many children were then sent to his parish and he felt that the only thing to do would be to send them all to orphanages.
One night Father Flanagan heard knocks on his door and there were two men wanting to talk to him. They were both Jewish. They told Father Flanagan that the Jewish Community in Omaha felt that he was doing a very good job and wanted to help him to go on with it. They asked only two things: to establish religious freedom in the organization and to let them take care of the finances.
So they bought a farm and erected a few buildings that were the start of Boys Town. The children had school and worked in the farm. At first it was for orphans. Afterwards it was also for children with bad behavior or even those who had committed minor crimes. Many judges would prefer to send these children to Boys Town rather than to reformatories, for they felt that they would have a much better chance to become good citizens. Boys Town, however, never had fences; children could easily escape, if they wanted; but they knew that if they were caught they would have to go to a reformatory, they would not be allowed to return to Boys Town.
Boys Town has large schools and a large refectory. But its inhabitants live in apartments that accept a maximum of six children, and each group has an adult supervisor, so that they can feel themselves as a family.
It became a tradition to send Christmas gifts to Boys Town, and they receive donations of millions of dollars every year. It is because they had accumulated a lot of money that the American Government suggested that they made investments. The Institute that I visited, sas well as the Hospital, were part of these investments; they also opened many other Boys Towns in different areas in the United States.
In 1938 a somewhat fantasized story of Boys Town became a celebrated movie picture, with Spencer Tracy as Father Flanagan. Mickey Rooney, who died recently, was one of the boys. Spencer Tracy donated to Boys Town the earnings he received for his part in the film.
Father Flanagan retired a few years before his death in 1948 and has been followed by other catholic priests who were also dedicated administrators. All of them have been appointed by the Archbishop of Omaha. And the treasurers are Jewish.
On a beautiful afternoon Dr. Bordley and Patrick took me to Boys Town, which is very close to Omaha. It was Patrick who told me the story that I am going to tell you. This is a little different from what you read in the Boys Town site or in Wikipedia, but this was what I was told.
Father Edward J. Flanagan, a catholic priest, on opening the door of his parish on a certain morning, found a basket with a carefully wrapped baby inside. He felt that to send this baby to an orphanage was not a very good idea, so he asked the Archbishop’s permission to educate the child in the parish. The permission was granted.
Approximately six month later he found another basket with another baby.
By the time that he was taking care of several children, a journalist found out about it and published in one the Omaha’s newspaper a report on the wonderful thing that Father Flanagan was doing. The result of this report is that many, many children were then sent to his parish and he felt that the only thing to do would be to send them all to orphanages.
One night Father Flanagan heard knocks on his door and there were two men wanting to talk to him. They were both Jewish. They told Father Flanagan that the Jewish Community in Omaha felt that he was doing a very good job and wanted to help him to go on with it. They asked only two things: to establish religious freedom in the organization and to let them take care of the finances.
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| Boys Town first building, a national monument |
Boys Town has large schools and a large refectory. But its inhabitants live in apartments that accept a maximum of six children, and each group has an adult supervisor, so that they can feel themselves as a family.
It became a tradition to send Christmas gifts to Boys Town, and they receive donations of millions of dollars every year. It is because they had accumulated a lot of money that the American Government suggested that they made investments. The Institute that I visited, sas well as the Hospital, were part of these investments; they also opened many other Boys Towns in different areas in the United States.
In 1938 a somewhat fantasized story of Boys Town became a celebrated movie picture, with Spencer Tracy as Father Flanagan. Mickey Rooney, who died recently, was one of the boys. Spencer Tracy donated to Boys Town the earnings he received for his part in the film.
Father Flanagan retired a few years before his death in 1948 and has been followed by other catholic priests who were also dedicated administrators. All of them have been appointed by the Archbishop of Omaha. And the treasurers are Jewish.
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