Side A: For nearly a century, this 98-acre site was occupied by an orphanage that, over the years, cared for several thousand destitute children. Founded in nearby Toledo in 1867 as the Protestant Orphan’s Home, the orphanage became the Lucas County Children’s Home shortly after it was relocated to this former farmland in 1887. It was renamed the Miami Children’s Center in 1960 before closing permanently in 1986. The main campus, across the River Road, was sold for residential use. The playground, on this side of the road, originally connected to the main campus by a tunnel, was given to the Maumee school system in 2004 as the site for the current Ft. Miami Elementary School. On these grounds, the laughter of a new generation of children at play is being heard once more….a fitting tribute to the disadvantaged boys and girls who formerly lived here.