The city orphanage named after Saint Mary Magdalene was located at the intersection of Tambovskaya and Nikolskaya streets. This large two-story building housed School No. 2 for a long time, and now it is home to a correction school.

In March 1881, it was decided to build a church and a children's shelter in memory of the tragic death of Emperor Alexander II in Morshansk. The construction was carried out under the patronage of Morshansk merchant Emelyan Zakharovich Platisin, who donated 70,000 rubles out of the 100,000 needed for the construction. The church was consecrated in 1883 in honor of the righteous prince Alexander Nevsky, the heavenly patron of the deceased Sovereign. The first priest was Father P. Vozdvizhensky, and the second and last was Father D. Yastrebov. The shelter was under the patronage of Empress Maria Feodorovna.

In the early 20th century, the chairman of the shelter council was titular adviser V.I. Afremov, the owner of a store that long housed the "Children's World." Afremov sold food and industrial goods, and his customers were middle-income townspeople. In 1916, the director of the shelter was V.I. Kholuyanov, who had a lithographic production in the house of Grachevsky.