Monsignor Edward J. Flanagan
On this date in 1917, Monsignor Edward J. Flanagan founded an orphanage outside of Omaha Nebraska which was called the City of Little Men. Later changing its name to Boys' Town, the orphanage for boys pioneered the social preparation model for orphanages. It still exists.
Monsignor Flanagan was Irish by birth and the son of a herdsman. He immigrated to the United States at age 18 in 1904 and received a bachelors degree just two years later, going on to receive a MA two years after that. He then entered the seminary in New York and completed his studies in Italy and Austria, being ordained there in 1912. He was then assigned to Nebraska as a Priest. He became a US citizen in 1919.. His views on the care and development of orphaned children were far ahead of their time.
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