Indianapolis Orphan Asylum

Formed under a charter in 1850 as the Widows’ and Orphans’ Asylum, the orphanage began operations in 1851. Run by an all-women Board of Managers, all of whom were prominent figures in the community, by 1855 they raised enough funds to construct a building. In 1875, the organization was incorporated as the Indianapolis Orphans’ Asylum. By 1930, the Orphans’ Asylum employed professional social workers and a psychiatrist.

Financial problems during the Great Depression led to a merger between the Orphans’ Asylum and the Family Welfare Society to form the Children’s Bureau of the Indianapolis Orphans’ Asylum. In 1941, the orphanage officially shut its doors. In 2021, the Bureau changed its name to Firefly Children and Family Alliance.

The Indianapolis Orphans’ Asylum received Section 31, Lot 50 (181 burials) in 1877, Section 37, Lot 415 in 1894 (168 burials) Section 37, Lot 417 in 1900 (193 burials) and then Section 37, Lot 875 (43 burials) in 1918. Many of the graves are unmarked.
Arthur Kenneth Adams lived his entire life in the orphanage; his parents were unknown. Like many of the children in the orphanage, he died young. Diseases like cholera infantum, syphilis, diphtheria, consumption (tuberculosis), and inanition (failure to thrive) were leading causes of death.