December 12, 1917: Boys Town Is Founded

December 12, 1917: Boys Town is founded in Omaha, Nebraska by Father Edward J. Flanagan, as a home for wayward boys.

Edward Joseph Flanagan was born on July 13, 1886 in Leabeg, County Roscommon, Ireland. He came to America in 1904, and was ordained as a priest in the Roman Catholic Church in 1912. He first visited Omaha when he contracted pneumonia, and had to temporary leave the seminary to stay with his brother there. In 1916, he established a homeless shelter there, and became a U.S. citizen in 1919.

Boys Town grew out of his shelter, at a camp 10 miles west of downtown Omaha. He did not believe in the reform school model, which he thought too punitive. Following the long-established Catholic model of following the wisdom of ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle, "Give me a child until he is 7, and I will show you the foundations of the man," he stated, "There's no such thing as a bad boy."

Under Flanagan's direction, Boys Town grew to be a large community with its own boy-mayor, schools, chapel, post office, cottages, gymnasium, and other facilities. Boys between the ages of 10 and 16 could receive an education there and learn a trade.

Flanagan's work became widely known, especially after the 1938 release of an MGM film, Boys Town, starring Spencer Tracy as Flanagan and Mickey Rooney as one of the boys. Flanagan was allowed to review the script before filming, some of which took place at the complex. Tracy won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance.

General Douglas MacArthur, who was leading the Allied occupation of Japan, invited Flanagan to Japan and Korea in 1947 to advise on child welfare. He also invited him to review conditions the next year in occupied territory in Austria and Germany, where Flanagan traveled in 1948. While in Germany, Flanagan died of a heart attack on May 15. He was 61 years old. He is interred at Dowd Memorial Chapel of the Immaculate Conception Parish in Boys Town.

Monsignor Robert P. Hupp had experience working with troubled girls. He had served from 1946 to 1950 as chaplain, teacher, and athletic coach for a girls' home. He was appointed to run Boys Town in 1973. In 1978, he accepted five girls into the Boys Town residential program in what was to be a small, short-term test. By 1985, 26 girls were citizens of Boys Town.

In 1943, Boys Town adopted as its image and logo a picture of a boy carrying a younger boy on his back, captioned, "He ain't heavy, Father, he's my brother," a phrase originating with the United Free Church of Scotland. They felt it epitomized the importance of their residents caring for each other and having someone care about them.

In 1969, songwriters Bobby Scott and Bob Russell collaborated on a song based on the idea, "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother." Scott loved the idea, and admitted, "I just got rid of the idea of the priest." In 1970, the song was a hit for both The Hollies and Neil Diamond, and has been recorded by many singers since.

In 2022, the original Village of Boys Town in Nebraska houses about 400 children, and is 1 of 9 such locations run by the organization across America.

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December 12, 1917 was a Wednesday. This was also the day of the Saint-Michel-de-Maurienne troop train derailment in France. I have a separate entry for that event.

Baseball was out of season. Football season was pretty much over. Professional basketball barely existed. And the 1st NHL season was a week away from starting. So there were no scores on this historic day.