On the 223 acres surrounding this peaceful place, many hundreds of children whose young lives were touched by tragedy and misfortune lived at the Wisconsin Child Center, formerly known as the State Public School for Dependent and Neglected Children. From 1886 to 1976, numerous buildings and playgrounds provided temporary homes for many generations of children. Some were orphaned, while others were born to families without resources to care for them. Some spent their entire childhood there, while others lived there only briefly. The cemetery is the final resting place for 305 children who were unclaimed at their deaths, many of whom died during epidemics of influenza, scarlet fever, diphtheria, and polio before vaccines were available. In keeping with the custom of the time, their graves were identified only by number, but their memory lives on and they are now given their names for all time.