North Carolina School for the Deaf - Clock Tower Yearbook (Morganton, NC)

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1, Oh NN i 1 mene 1 104 A HH NL NL NE NL Ae em em 1 seme seme | 1) et —— 11 | ee ff mm Fo 0—— 111 tn ff ef EE EL ET | fH LL | | Atis LORY OFOUR SCHOOL ANNIE McD. ERVIN lina became interested in the establish- ment of a school for the deaf and the blind in the state. Mr. W. D. Cook of Virginia came to North Carolina and gave demonstra- tions of the methods of teaching the deaf in several counties. On January 12, 1845 a bill entitled “An Act to Provide for the Education and Maintenance of Indigent Deaf and Blind Persons in the State’ was passed by the General Assembly. The sum of $5,000 annually was appropriated. This sum was placed in the hands of the President and Board of Directors of the Literary Fund. This Board secured a building on Hillsboro Street, Raleigh, and Mr. Cook was chosen principal. On the first day of May, 1845 the school opened with seven deaf pupils. It was called the North Carolina Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and Blind. The North Carolina Institution was the ninth to be esta- blished in the United States. At the meeting of the General Assembly in 1847 an act was passed providing for the erection of suitable buildings for a school for the deaf and blind of the state. On the 14th of April, 1845 the cornerstone of the new building on Coswell Square, Raleigh, was laid by the Grand Lodge of Masons, and the school was soon opened at the new site. In 1851 Mr. John Kelly of Orange County left the sum of $6,000 to aid in the education of indigent deaf-mutes. The will provided that only the interest on the money could be used. Mr. Cook continued to be principal until 1860 when he was succeeded by Mr. W. J. Palmer who remained principal until 1869, when he went to Belleville, Canada, to become superintendent of a similar institution there. The school was kept open all through the Civil War in spite of the fact that the State Treasury was almost exhausted at that time. Several years after the resignation of Mr. 4 N the year 1843 the people of North Caro- 1h NN et 1 te ¢ 100 — tn em NE Ah NN me me 1 mm em 1 me 1 me 1 Palmer, the school was under the management of men who had no professional experience and no knowledge of the deaf. Their appointments were made for political reasons. About this time the Governor appointed a Board, among whom was a negro who could neither read nor write. Before this time the Institution had owned a well-equipped printing and book-binding office. At one time The American Annuals for the Deaf was printed there. The Institution published a paper called “The Deaf-Mute Casket.” Most of the state’s printing was done in that office. It had valuable appliances for the printing of raised letters and several books for the blind were printed there. During the Reconstruction Period, when the politicans had charge of the Institution, the office was torn down and a costly press was sold to a foundry for “old iron.” It was afterward bought by a publishing company of Raleigh and used for years. The excuse given for this work of destruction was that a state institution should not compete with other print- ing houses in the state. In 1868 the General Assembly of North Ca- rolina made provision for the education of the negro deaf and blind. North Carolina was the first state to provide an institution for the education of the negro deaf and blind. This school is situated in Raleigh and is under the same management as the school for the white blind, but it is in a different section of the city. There are 100 deaf pupils in the school at present; it has the distinction of being the larg- est school for the negro deaf in the world. In 1877 Mr. H. A. Gudger was elected prin- cipal of the school for the white deaf and blind. Although he had had no experience with the deaf and blind, he devoted himself to the work of the school with so much energy that he soon became acquainted with the methods of instructing them. He remained principal until 1883 when he re- ieee HL me mmm ff me fh me | mt me tt me HNL 1 hm | 1 NL LL LN Nh Lf em i th) tt) et eh ett mh 5 eh Yt nA fe Hh te} et —— ||| ee a. 9 vith 3

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— {1 ——— || ee a a a a ie a eee a pa a a 3 9 — | 1 ! | fe: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | t | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | 14 | tt | tt NL ff me ff 151] ff 1 | ee fff fff fff || ||| | ff || ff ||| emf | m1 1 mmm signed, and his place was filled by Mr. W. J. Young, who had been an instructor in the de- partment of the blind for twenty years. Some years later it was deemed wiser to sepa- rate the deaf from the blind, and after much agitation by the friends of the deaf, an act was passed by the General Assembly in 1891, during Governor Holt’s administration, authorizing the separation. A sum of $20,000 was appropriated for the establishment of the North Carolina School for the Deaf and Dumb, and a site for building was secured at Morganton. In April, 1891 the Board met at Morganton and elected Mr. E. McK. Goodwin from the School for the Deaf and Dumb and Blind in Raleigh, advisory superintendent. The first brick of Main Building was laid by two deaf pupils, Maggie LeGrand and Robert Miller, on May 16, 1892, and the school was opened on October 2, 1894 with one hundred two pupils. Under Mr. Goodwin’s management, the school has grown until we now have an enrollment of 375 pupils with a plant valued at about one and a quarter million, and an annual appropriation of $80,090 for maintenance. The present plant cens.sts of eight brick buildings and several dwell- — eT eH HH || || | eH || | FH | a ff fj || |} ing houses. The school is surrounded by 327 acres of land, part of which is used for farming purposes. Besides this it owns 537 acres as a private water-shed from which the school obtains, by gravity, an abundant supply of pure mountain water. The name of the school was changed in 1907 to The North Carolina School for the Deaf, drop- ping the word “dumb” as it was realized that dumbness is a consequence of deafness. One thousand six hundred and twenty-seven children have entered the school since it was estab- lished. We now have thirty-two grade teachers, an educational principal and with two assistants, — a teacher of domestic science, a physical director and seven industrial teachers. The aim of the school is three-fold,—to train the mind and the hand, to form character, to develop strong and healthy bodies—and thus to fit its pupils for useful, happy lives. With health- habits well-established, with standards of right — living well-formed, with minds and hands so trained that those who were so dependent can leave school self-supporting, the boys and girls who receive this tri-une education should be assets to their School and to their State. en Pp ra HS A ET i — Tf a — 11) mem |) Ot fh ef |) | | | | || | | || | || || || || || || |f | 11 || {ff |} mm | f || mc | —— 1 | fo ft ft 1 fee 4 ee (| Hf ff 4 emem emme|f em jf (fm fem (4 mm cee } seme LG lh | || | | LY | || LT || || || || || | — |||) — 1 —— tn off 1 —— |) | —— |e |) me