On December 20, 1863, Governor Alexander Ivanovich Despot-Zenovich opened the Tobolsk Guardianship of orphanages.
On January 26, 1866, the orphanage was recognized as an independent institution under the name of "Alexandrovsky", in memory of the visit to Tobolsk by the heir to the throne of Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich in 1837. From 1866 to 1899, the Alexander Orphanage was managed by Nikolai Stepanovich Znamensky.
In 1872, a two-story stone house was purchased for the orphanage from the daughter of the hereditary honorary citizen Alexandra Pilenkova on Malaya Pyatnitskaya Street. On October 14, 1873, the orphanage was moved to a new building. A notable feature of the house were large bright windows. The building was decorated with stucco rosettes placed under the windows of the upper floor.
In 1878, 221 children (98 small, 123 girls) were brought up in the Alexander Orphanage, in 1879 — 178 (76 small, 102 girls).
In 1880, merchants Zharnikov and Kornilov, honorary members of the guardianship of orphanages, established a scholarship in memory of Emperor Alexander II.
In 1889, the capital of the orphanage, which consisted of donations from private individuals, reached 15,400 rubles, and real estate — 17,200 rubles.
At the turn of the XIX — XX centuries, the guardian of the orphanage was the widow of a hereditary honorary citizen Felikitata Vasilyevna Kornilova, her assistant was the wife of a hereditary citizen Nadezhda Pavlovna Shirkova. The director of the shelter was the actual state councilor Nikolai Stepanovich Znamensky, the caretaker was the merchant’s daughter Anna Vasilyevna Remennikova, the assistant caretakers were Agrippina Konstantinovna Kulakova, Maria Alekseevna Ilyina, Vera Fedorovna Timofeeva.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the director of the shelter was the collegiate adviser Yevgeny Vasilyevich Dementiev.
In 1910, 44 girls aged from 2 to 16 years were in the orphanage, in addition, 62 children were incoming. Children were taught sewing clothes and underwear, winter and summer outerwear, knitting, embroidery, and so on. Cutting, sewing and needlework were supervised and supervised by the caretaker of the shelter. Sewing children were taught by former pupils of the orphanage.
In addition to cooking lunch and baking bread, the children did everything themselves, for this purpose duty officers were appointed. The children cleaned the rooms, took care of the garden and vegetable garden.
The composition of the guardianship at that time was Tobolsk Governor Dmitry Fedorovich von Gagman, Vice-Governor Nikolai Ivanovich Gavrilov, Bishop of Tobolsk and Siberia Eusebius. Members of the board of trustees: director of public schools Grigory Yakovlevich Malyarevsky, Tobolsk mayor Stepan Makarovich Trusov, widow of merchant Kornilov, honorary citizen Felikitata Vasilyevna Kornilova and her daughter-in-law Anna Vsevolodovna Kornilova, wife of valet Margarita Mechislavovna Gondatti, director of the shelter Dementiev, doctor Nikolai Vasilyevich Afonsky.