American School for the Deaf

The American School for the Deaf (ASD), originally The Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons, is the oldest permanent K-12 school for the deaf in the United States, and the first school for deaf children anywhere in the western hemisphere. It was founded April 15, 1817, in Hartford, Connecticut, by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, Mason Cogswell, and Laurent Clerc and became a state-supported school later that year. Asylum Street, in Hartford, and Asylum Avenue, in Hartford and West Hartford, were named for the school. History The first deaf school in the United States was short-lived: established in 1815 by Col. William Bolling of Goochland, Virginia, in nearby Cobbs, with John Braidwood (tutor of Bolling's two deaf children) as teacher, it closed in the fall of 1816. The impetus behind its founding was the fact that Alice Cogswell, the daughter of wealthy local surgeon Mason Fitch Cogswell, was deafened in childhood by fever at a time when the British schools were an unacceptable substitute for a local school. Cogswell prevailed upon the young Gallaudet (who had recently graduated from Yale University's School of Divinity and had begun studying at Andover). Gallaudet met young Alice in Hartford, where he was recovering from illness. Cogswell and nine other citizens decided that the known 84 deaf children in New England needed appropriate facilities. However, competent teachers could not be found, so they sent Gallaudet in 1815 on a tour of Europe, where deaf education was a much more developed art. After being rebuffed by Robert Kinniburgh, the head of Braidwood's Academy for the Deaf and Dumb, who refused to share Thomas Braidwood's deaf pedagogy, Gallaudet turned to the Parisian French schoolteachers of the famous school for the Deaf in Paris, where he successfully recruited Laurent Clerc. On the strength of Clerc's reputation, ASD was incorporated as the "Connecticut Asylum for the Education of Deaf and Dumb Persons," as it was originally known, in May 1816. When it opened in 1817, there were seven students enrolled: Alice Cogswell, George Loring, Wilson Whiton, Abigail Dillingham, Otis Waters, John Brewster Jr., and Nancy Orr. The original name of the school was The Connecticut Asylum (at Hartford) for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons. During the winter of 1818–1819, the American School for the Deaf became the first school of primary and secondary education to receive aid from the federal government when it was granted $300,000 (equivalent to $8.69 million in 2024). As a result of its pivotal role in American deaf history, it also hosts a museum containing numerous rare and old items. While it is situated on a 54-acre (22 ha) campus, the ASD has a small enrollment – as of 1981, the ASD had graduated approximately 6,000 graduates. The American School for the Deaf was also one of the first deaf schools in the country to admit African American students, beginning in 1825. Charles Hiller, a 15-year-old from Nantucket, enrolled in 1825 and graduated in 1829. At least a dozen more African American children attended ASD throughout the 19th century. Gallaudet was principal until 1830. His son, Edward Miner Gallaudet followed in his legacy as the first president of the National Deaf-Mute College, which followed ASD's lead and taught students primarily in American Sign Language (derived from the methodical signs and Parisian sign language of the French Institute for the Deaf). In 2019, April 15, the day on which the school was founded in 1817, was declared as the National American Sign Language Day. In 2021, the ASD launched its "Online Academy" for students ages 12–16, which is the first virtual enrollment option offered by the school. The program is intended to provide services to students in other parts of the U.S. as well as international students. It also enrolls homeschooling students and hearing students who want to learn American Sign Language. National Theater of the Deaf In 2004, National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) moved its corporate headquarters to the campus of the American School for the Deaf. Notable alumni Edmund Booth helped establish the Iowa School for the Deaf. Julia Brace John Brewster Jr painter and at age 51 the oldest student of the school's first class. Alice Cogswell, inspiration for the school's founding John Flournoy helped establish the Georgia School for the Deaf. John B. Hotchkiss, first deaf professor at Gallaudet University Florence Lewis May (1916), art historian References External links Official ASD website History page on the ASD website Camp Isola Bella on the ASD website "A Brief History Of The American Asylum, At Hartford, For The Education And Instruction Of The Deaf And Dumb" Third Report of the Directors and Officers 1819 Fourth Report of the Directors and Officers 1820 Fifth Report of the Directors and Officers 1821 Eighth Report of the Directors and Officers 1824 Fourteenth Report of the Directors and Officers 1830 Fifteenth Report of the Directors and Officers 1831 Eighteenth Report of the Directors and Officers 1834 Nineteenth Report of the Directors and Officers 1835 Twentieth Report of the Directors and Officers 1836 Twenty-second Report of the Directors and Officers 1838 Twenty-third Report of the Directors and Officers 1839 Twenty-fifth Report of the Directors and Officers 1841 Twenty-sixth Report of the Directors and Officers 1842 Twenty-seventh Report of the Directors and Officers 1843 Twenty-ninth Report of the Directors and Officers 1845 Thirtieth Report of the Directors and Officers 1846 Thirty-second Report of the Directors and Officers 1848 Forty-first Report of the Directors and Officers 1857 Forty-second Report of the Directors and Officers 1858 Fifty-fourth Report of the Directors and Officers 1870 Fifty-fifth Report of the Directors and Officers 1871