The Minnesota State Public School for Dependent and Neglected Children, now known as West Hills, was located in Owatonna, Minnesota, from 1886 to 1945. The State School was created by an act of the Minnesota legislature in 1885 as an effort to provide safe, transitional housing for the state's orphaned, abandoned, and neglected children. The goal was remove at-risk children from bad situations and place them in the State School, where they would reside in a home-like setting, receive an education, and eventually be placed with suitable farm families. During those 60 years, the State School was home to a total of 10,635 children who were orphans or had been abused or abandoned. Both the Administration building and the State School campus are on the National Register of Historic Places.