THE MICHIGAN SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF

Location. The Michigan School for the Deaf is located in the city of Flint. It is situated on a high ridge of land washed on three sides by rapid streams. The grounds of the school are very beautiful. Almost every ornamental shrub, tree or flower known to this altitude is grown here. People visit the grounds as they would a beautiful park.

Purpose. Everything at the school is for the good of the deaf children of the State of Michigan. Its object is to educate deaf children so that (1) they may earn a living; (2) they may have culture enough to enjoy that living; and (3) they may be fitted for citizenship. The school is free to every child in Michigan who is too deaf to go to public schools and who is mentally and physically able to benefit by the training. It is a school for children—not an asylum-and it is not intended to shelter those whom ignorance, carelessness or foolish friends have allowed to grow up without education. It is solely for the education of children who cannot hear well.

History of Deaf and Dumb Institutions. The first school for the deaf, The American Asylum at Hartford, Connecticut, was established by Rev. Thomas H. Gallaudet in 1817. While residing in Hartford Mr. Gallaudet became interested in a little deaf and dumb girl, the daughter of one of his neighbors. He attempted to instruct her in the use of letters and the names of objects. This effort of Mr. Gallaudet awakened an interest in the deaf and dumb children of the state. It was found that there were eighty in the State of Connecticut who ought to be educated, and a proportional number in the other New England states. The result was that several prominent citizens of Hartford contributed funds to send Mr. Gallaudet to Europe to acquire the art of instructing the deaf and dumb. He was invited to Paris by Abbe Sicard who founded the Royal Institute there. There he received every facility possible for obtaining the desired information. He finally prevailed on Laurent Clerc, a deaf mute who had been one of the most distinguished pupils, and at that time a teacher in the Royal Institute to accompany him to this country.

Thus were the efforts of Mr. Gallaudet at last crowned with complete success, and the art of instructing the deaf and dumb transplanted from France to the United States in the person of Laurent Clerc who was a teacher in the American Asylum as long as he was able to work.

From the commencement at Hartford to the present time there has been a gradual increase in the number of institutions for the deaf and dumb in this county.

Michigan School for the Deaf. The Legislature of 1848 passed the bill which established the "Michigan Asylum for Educating the Deaf and Dumb and Blind and the Asylum for the Insane."

In 1850 the Village of Flint was selected as a site for the Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb and Blind, the citizens having donated $3,000, ten acres of land, the proceeds of which were to be applied to the erection of buildings and supposed to be worth one thousand dollars, and ten additional acres of land donated for the site of the Asylum.