A Secret History - Black Market Babies in Phillipsburg, Kansas During the 1950s

Five decades ago in the small country town of Phillipsburg, Kansas, the selling of Black Market Babies flourished, fueled onward by the respected local Phillipsburg, Kansas Physician, Dr. Mary Townsend Glassen. During the time of her practice in this very rural town, Dr. Mary Townsend Glassen delivered over four thousand babies. She has since died but many of her personal artifacts are in the Fort Bissell Museum located at the west side of Phillipsburg, Kansas. But inside this museum there is no mention of the Black Market Baby Trade that flourished in her practice during the 1950s. This Black Market Baby Trade has been kept "under cover", only known by a select few, most of which have now passed away, burying this secret along with them.

One Black Market Baby adoptee states that her parents informed her that she hadn't been born in Phillipsburg, Kansas at all but had actually been born in Lincoln, Nebraska. This woman's birth certificate states Phillipsburg, Kansas as the place of her birth. Her parents state that at that time Dr. Mary Townsend Glassen told them to go to Bryan Memorial Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska and see a certain doctor. When they met with this doctor, they gave the doctor money for the Black Market Baby and were then given a newborn baby and a birth certificate stating them to be the actual birth parents. No mention of the true birth mother or father was notated on the birth certificate.

There is no knowledge as to whether the actual birth mother and father were coerced into giving up their baby for the Black Market Baby Trade or whether the birth parents were given a share of the money that was given to the doctor. It also isn't known whether the birth mother entered the hospital under a falsified name. It also isn't known whether the baby was obtained from a birth mother under duress. It also isn't known if the mother was told that the baby died shortly after birth. It also isn't known if newborn babies were purchased from economically disadvantaged parents in the U.S. or third world countries or if the babies were actually kidnapped. All that is known is that there was certainly a Black Market Baby trade going on at that time.

There are over fifty Black Market Baby adoptees said to have been delivered by Dr. Mary Townsend Glassen who have been actively searching since the 1950s for their true birth mothers. Even to this day, Black Market Baby adoptees are searching for their birth parents and most have been unsuccessful in their attempts of reconsolidation with their birth parents.

I was also born in Phillipsburg, Kansas by Dr. Mary Townsend Glassen in her office during that time period, but I didn't have any knowledge of the underground Black Market Baby ring until a few years ago.

As most of the information of the Black Market Baby Trade died when Dr. Mary Townsend Glassen died, it is difficult to obtain a report of how many Black Market Babies there actually were. Her sister, Naida Smith, who was her secretary, is also deceased, and one of the only people who could have given factual information about the Black Market Baby Trade.

According to Dr. Mary's Book, How To Sleep on a Windy Night , Dr. Mary states that she helped unwed mothers by totally hiding their pregnancies or changing the paperwork to look as if no adoption ever occurred.

Perhaps, Dr. Mary did a service to the unwed mothers because at that time unwed pregnancy was completely forbidden and an unwed mother was looked upon as a slut and a loose woman. There were no avenues for legal abortion then, and illegal abortions were performed in dirty offices and dark alleyways, with many of the women dying during this painful and dangerous ordeal. There was also self abortion going on, self-abortion performed via a coat hanger stuck deep up into the vagina to abort the fetus. This quite often didn't work and instead maimed the mother and the child for life. The Black Market Baby trade saved many of these women from death and disfigurement.

According to Dr. Mary's book, the few people who knew about these Black Market Baby adoptions state that Dr. Mary didn't make any money from the adoptions, but gave the children to established parents who could care for them, unlike the pregnant girls whose lives would have been demolished by the unwedded pregnancy and just as much by the unwedded birth.

But still, one can only wonder if Dr. Mary Townsend Glassen received compensation from the illegal trafficing of newborn babies. The only information I have is my own mother's praise of this fine woman. My mother said that Dr. Mary was a truly kind woman, helpful, and good down to her very core. Perhaps she was, as she did help the unwed mothers of this terribly oppressive time period.

But I still wonder, if I am a Black Market Baby too, but I believe that my mother would have told me if this was so. I can hope for that and nothing more.