The most of those in the custodial department are not susceptible to material improvement, and must be cared for during life, though many become more or less useful. Some of the adult feeble-minded boys and girls live with them and assist in their care.

A colony of boys has been organized upon a well equipped farm, where dairying and gardening are the principal features.

There is a department organized for epileptic boys and another for epileptic girls. The former, called the "Retreat," is in the south wing of the center building, and the latter occupies the new dormitory building for girls, known as the "Annex."

The school is in reality an institution performing the functions of a school, a home and a hospital. It therefore consists of three departments, quite distinct in their nature, and yet mutually connected, viz.: (1) School and Training Department, (2) Custodia or Home, and (3) Epileptic Hospital.

The Minnesota State Public School, for dependent and neglected children, at Owatonna, Steele county, was established by legislative enactment in 1885, and opened for the reception of children in December, 1886.

The premises consist of 240 acres of good farm land in two tracts, one containing 160 acres, donated to the State by the citizens of Owatonna, and the other containing eighty acres, lying half a mile distant, purchased by the State in 1897. The site of the buildings is elevated, overlooking the city and the beautiful valley of the Straight river.

The permanent buildings are eleven in number, and comprise an administration building, a schoolhouse, a laundry and heating plant, seven cottages and a hospital, all irregularly though attractively placed on an undulating plat. The administration building, which occupies a central position in the group, contains, in the central section, the superintendent's residence and office, public reception room, library, children's and employes' dining rooms, and rooms for other officers and employes; in the south wing, rooms for the accommodation of a family of children, and in the north wing, an assembly hall, matron's room and office, and a sewing room. Besides the buildings described, there are two barns and two tool sheds of sufficient capacity to accommodate the needs of the farm, an ice house, a greenhouse, and a hennery.

The cost of the property, including land, buildings, and all improvements, was $203,743.73.

The plan of construction and organization is designed to embody, as far as possible, the distinctive features of home life. The children are divided into families numbering from twenty-five to thirty members, and each family occupies a separate cottage. The cottages are the homes, and are in charge of intelligent women who care for the children as mothers. All of the children take their meals in a central dining hall, each family having a table and eating by itself, and all attend school in a central building.

The object of the institution is to provide a temporary home and school for the dependent and neglected children of the State. No child in Minnesota to-day need go without a home if the officers of the counties do their duty. The process of admission is simple, and is divested of every feature resembling a criminal proceeding. Under the law, it is the duty of every county commissioner, when he finds in his district a child dependent, or in manifest danger, to take steps at once for its examination by the judge of probate, who is the officer designated to decide upon its eligibility; so that through the plan arranged for sending them here from every county, the benevolent purpose of the State is effectively carried out. The process of admission wisely guards against the unnecessary separation of parent and child, but keeps in view the ultimate good of the latter. Once admitted, it is the child of the State, the authority of the parents, if any are living, being canceled.

While in the school the bodily wants of the children are provided for, and they are instructed morally and in the common school branches. The farm, garden, greenhouse, engineering and electrical departments and office offer opportunities for those who are old enough to be taught in these special lines, while the training of the girls is designed to help them to become useful in the arts of housekeeping. Every child old enough to work has some daily task suited to its years and condition; but the average time of detention in the school, about ten months, is not long enough to complete an education or teach a definite trade for life occupation, the work being especially preparatory to their going into family homes where their education and training for useful citizenship will be carried on and completed by the families taking them.

A very important part of the work of the institution is carried on by the state agency. Through it the children in families are visited and the homes of families that apply for them are personally investigated.

January 1, 1899, there had been received into the school from seventy-two counties 1,824 children, of whom 1,131 were boys and 693 were girls. Of these, 233 were then in the school, the others, with few exceptions, having been placed in family homes. Of those placed in homes, 1,030 still remained under the supervision of the school and were subject to visitation. Three hundred and four were past eighteen years of age. Information gained by visits to these young people showed that eighty-three per cent of them had developed into young men and women of good character.