Girls and Boys Town (previously known as Boys Town) is the name of an organization dedicated to the housing and education of at-risk children. It was founded in 1917 as a community for homeless or abandoned boys known as Boys Town by Father Edward J. Flanagan (1886-1948), a Roman Catholic priest, at a site in downtown Omaha, Nebraska. The organization is now located at Girls and Boys Town's national headquarters, located in the Village of Boys Town, Nebraska, a National Historic Landmark west of Omaha. The name of the organization was changed, by vote of the children then living there, to make it clear to girls who needed help that they are welcome there.
In 1938, a film, also called Boys Town, based on Father Flanagan's work (although fictionalized) was released. It starred Spencer Tracy as Father Edward J. Flanagan, and Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull , Gene Reynolds , Edward Norris and Addison Richards .
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