[1] The Charleston Orphan House was established on October 18, 1790 by the City Council as the first municipal orphanage in the United States.

[1][2] The orphanage primarily served poor white children and formed one of South Carolina's earliest educational systems.

[4] Residents of the Orphan House were often poor white children with living parents who could not afford to care for them.

Orphan House children typically received a few years of school before being hired out as apprentices, farmers, or domestic servants.

[5] In 1956, the Orphan House building at St. Phillip and Coming streets was torn down to construct a Sears.

Currently, the agency now identifies as the Carolina Youth Development Center, which still operates and serves through outreach programs.