USA > Minnesota > Rice County > History of Rice County, including explorers and pioneers of Minnesota and outline history of the state of Minnesota > Part 60
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CITY OF FARIBAULT.
10,000 feet. The gas is made from naptha and the quality is satisfactory. The charges for gas to consumers is $3 per thousand with a discount of ten per cent. for payment on presentation of the bill, making the cost $2.70 net. The company has a contract to furnish the streets with light at $36 a post, and to light, extinguish, and keep in repair.
THE MINNESOTA INSTITUTE FOR THE EDUCATION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB, THE BLIND, AND THE SCHOOL FOR IDIOTS AND IMBECILES.
This is a pretentious name, broad in its mean- ing and comprehensive in the work contemplated, but, nevertheless, it is the true title, as the Insti- tute now stands chartered by the State, and warranted by the co-operative departments.
In the brief history of this Institute herewith given the writer hopes to be able to explain why this Institute was established, when founded, how organized, the methods employed, the manner of support, the present status of its affairs and some of the results already realized.
Before Minnesota became a State, and while the general government was providing liberally for the public schools and the University, it was dis- covered that there were children and youth still unprovided for in matters of education, care and training. In all our States and Territories the deaf and dumb have been found to number from one in fifteen to one in ten hundred; the blind from one in fifteen hundred to one in two thousand; and the idiotic and imbecile as numerous as both of the former classes together. We may safely estimate forty thousand deaf-mutes, thirty-five thousand blind, and sixty-five thousand idiotic and imbecile persons in the United States, and this State has her share of them. It was in anticipa- tion of such facts as these, with no provision of a public nature to meet the emergency, that the friends of education, humanity, and the common- wealth, gave thought, time, and labor, and urged upon successive legislatures the importance, yes, the necessity, of establishing just such schools as are found in Faribault to-day.
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THE DEAF AND DUMB AND THE BLIND .- The State Legislature, during its first session in 1858, passed an act establishing "The Minnesota State Institute for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb" within two miles of Faribault, in Rice county, upon condition that the town, or county, should, within one year from the passage of the law, give forty acres of land for its use. The land was do-
nated, but the school for various reasons was not opened till five years later.
The Legislature of 1863, passed a law establish- ing a department for the care and education of the blind, together with the deaf and dumb, and under the same authority and management, but this school was not opened till 1866. During the sum- mer of 1866, Miss. H. N. Tucker was employed as teacher and three blind children were received, provided for and taught in the Fitzgerald house, in the south part of the town. Subsequently this school was moved to the north part of the town to the Tanner House, so called, and in May, 1868, soon after the deaf and dumb occupied the north wing of their building, the blind were removed to the same building with them. Here the blind re- mained till their removal to their present quarters on the old Faribault place, where for one year they were under the care and instruction of Prof. A. N. Pratt, acting principal, and subsequently that of Prof. J, J. Dow who is still in charge and has prepared the following brief history of the blind department.
"As early as 1872, it had become evident that a permanent separation of the two classes for whom the Institution was designed, was desirable, and an appropriation for the erection of a separate build- ing was asked for, which the next legislature readily granted. The home property of the orig- inal settler and founder of this city, Alexander Faribault, at that time coming into market it was purchased for the new home for the blind. It recommended itself for such a purpose by its beautiful situation upon the high bluff over- looking the town from the southeast and com- manding an extensive view of the valleys of the Straight and Cannon Rivers, and the early and extensive improvements made by its former owner, by which immediate possession was obtained of twenty years growth of orramental, shade, and fruit trees and shrubbery.
A commodious building for the use of the blind was speedily erected, and in the fall of 1874, they were removed to their new quarters, about one mile from the building for the deaf and dumb, and placed under the immediate charge of Prof. A. N. Pratt.
At the close of the first year in this new home Mr. Pratt retired from his connection with the school, and J. J. Dow, Superintendent of the pub- lic schools of the city of Austin, was selected to
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fill the place thus made vacant. For the next four years little in the history of the school worthy of mention occurred. Faithful and constant effort was put forth to secure the best results possible in the literary and musical departments of the school, and a reasonable degree of success was attained, but it was constantly felt that there should be a department for training the youth here assembled in such forms of manual labor as might be hene- ficial in after life.
At the opening of the year 1878, an attempt was made in a small way to accomplish this by teaching the art of caning, with quite satisfactory results.
At the opening of the next year an experiment was made in broom-making, with such success that during the year a shop was erected and the indus- trial department permanently established. Since that time it has continued to give evidence of the substantial benefit arising from it, and there are oven in so short a time several broom shops in dif- ferent parts of the State, operated by young men who learned the trade in this Institution.
In 1879, the congress of the United States made a subsidy grant of money, the income of which was to be annually expended for the education of the blind throughout the country. This has been of great help to the library department in fur- nishing needed books, maps, and school apparatus without expense to the State. The amount so re- ceived has varied from seventy-five to one hundred and forty dollars per year, according to the num- ber of pupils in attendance.
At the beginning of the year 1881, J. J. Dow, who had for six years been the principal and the resident officer in charge, was elected superintend- ent of the blind department, thus completing the separate organization of the department.
The attendance of pupils during the last seven yeurs has varied from eighteen to thirty-five which was the attendance of the last school year. This number is in excess of the capacity of the build- ing, and an addition to the accommodations for the blind is a pressing necessity, which it is confident- ly expected will be appreciated and met by the next legislature.
The school work as now organized is carried on in three departments, the pupil spending an as- signed portion of each day in each department, In the literary department instruction is given in reading and spelling in the common or embossed
raised letter, and in a special system called the New York point method which possesses the ad- vantages of being more legible to the touch and of being written by the learner, through the aid of simple and cheap apparatus; in writing with pen- cil in a letter approaching common script in form, and legible to the ordinary reader, in the New York point sistem and upon the type writer; in arithmetic, both mental and written, the latter by means of a simple arrangement of type, which takes the place of the ordinary slate; in geography through the aid of excellent raised and desected maps, by means of which the form and outlines of the different political divisions and the general elevations and depressions of the earth's surfice are readily perceived; and in history, both ancient and modern, with especial reference to the insti- tutions of our own country. Elementary instruc- tion is also given in such other branches of study as the advancement aud capacity of the pupil seems to require. Among the studies which have been pursued, in addition to those mentioned, are grammar, composition, and rhetoric, English lit- erature, political economy, and civil government, mental and moral philosophy, natural philosophy, chemistry, physiology, geology, zoology, and al- gebra. In many of these departments of study, text books are now printed in type for the blind, while in those in which books are still lacking or are unsatisfactory, oral instruction alone is em- ployed. The facilities for the literary education of the blind are improving year by year, with the increase of books and apparatus for study and in choice works in literature for general culture.
In the musical department instruction is given in vocal music and upon the piano, three of which instruments are owned by the Institution, cabinet organ, violin, and several other orchestra instru- ments. The recently perfected New York point system of musical notation, by means of which the simplest as well as the most difficult music can be written and read by the blind, is now being intro- duced, and bids fair to be of great service to this department. Yet for much of his music a blind musician must always depend upon a seeing read- er, and instruction is chiefly given by reading.
In the Industrial department the broom and cane work have already been mentioned. Besides this work, which is especially for the benefit of the boys, the girls are instructed in such of the house- hold arts as can be most advantageously pursued
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by the blind. All are taught to sew by hand, many hecome proficient in plain and fancy knitting, crochetting, etc., and a fair proportion learn to operate a sewing machine successfully. The mak- ing of fancy bead work by the girls and smaller boys gives excellent practice in securing delicacy of touch, and minute exactness of detail iu work.
In all of the departments the aim is to do for blind persons what the home, the school, and the shop may do for his more fortunate brothers and sisters, but what, for lack of skill and appliances, they cannot do for him. All of the peculiar meth- ods and apparatus in nse are adapted to so supply the want of sight in securing an education, as to produce, as nearly as possible, the same degree of physical, mental, and moral culture, and the same capacity for meeting with success in life as the seeing may so much more easily secure.
The officers and teachers for the last school year (1881-82) are as follows: J. J. Dow, superintend- ent; Miss Kate Barnes, Matron; Josiah Thomp- son, teacher; Miss Julia Johnson, pupil assistant; Miss C. C. La Grave, music teacher; Michael C. Schneck, foreman broom shop."
THE SCHOOL FOR IMBECILES AND IDIOTS .- The importance of establishing at an early day a school for the care, education, and training of feeble-minded children and youth, has been rec- ognized by many citizens of the State. * The first public advocacy of such a step was made in the annual report of the Superintendent of the Deaf and Dumb, who had from time to time been obliged to remove such unfortunate youth from the school under his charge. As early as 1868, attention was called to these children in his an- nual report, and the same was emphasized in 1877. The State Board of Health also advocated the movement in their annual reports.
* The Legislature in 1879 took up the subject and established in Faribault an experimental school for idiots and feeble-minded children under the same authority and management as the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, and made appropria- tions for two years. In giving the history of this State School for Imbeciles, we cannot do better than to quote from the first report of the Directors:
"The last Legislature having entrusted the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Institution for the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind with the charge of such children and youth as had drifted
into the Insane hospitals of the State and were found to be Imbecile and feeble-minded, rather than lunatic, and seemed capable of improvement and instruction, the Board early proceeded to the trust.
The first want presenting itself was reliable in- formation as to the special needs of this class of children and the most approved methods of or- ganizing and conducting an institution for their training. Fortunately for us and our enterprise. the late Dr. H. M. Knight, the founder and super- intendent of the Connecticut School for Imbeciles, visited our State in June, 1879. He was a man of large brain and noble heart, and zealously in- terested himself in our behalf. His long experi- ence in this country and his personal examination of the' principle Schools of Europe for the feeble- minded, fitted him to give us such aid and counsel as we most needed. He directed our preparations and superintended the organization and opening of the school until his son, Dr. G. H. Knight, who had been brought up to the work by his father, took charge in the latter part of September, 1879."
The report of the Acting Superintendent for the first eighteen months states that during that time, while the school was still an experiment, the number of children cared for were twenty-five, all that the building then occupied could be made to accommodate. During that time the pro- gress of those cared for proved conclusively that the time had passed when the education of the feehle-minded could be looked upon as simply an experiment.
Accordingly the Legislature of '80 and '81, upon being asked to make the school one of the permanent Institutions of the State, did so with- out a dissenting vote, and also appropriated the sum of twenty-five thousand dollars, ($25,000) for building purposes. The result of that sum is a stone building 80 x 44 accommodating fifty- five children, and completely equiped with steam and water and all the conveniences for carrying on a work of this kind successfully.
The Board of Directors is the same as that of the Deaf and Dumb.
OFFICERS AND TEACHERS .- Dr. George H. Knight, Superintendent; Miss M. E. Powers and Miss Susie Smith, Teachers; Miss Ella An- derson, Matron.
Thus it will be seen that by the several enact- ments of the Legislature the Institute founded in
* See Errata, page 603.
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HISTORY OF RICE COUNTY.
Faribault has been enlarged till, as its title sets forth, it embraces what, in most all of the States comprises three separate institutions,-and so far as unity of aim and purpose in doing the work for the State, and economy in its management, and freedom from impartial and unjust legisla- tion are concerned, this union of three schools under one Board of Directors is wise and timely and will appear so just as long as competent men are placed in authority over it.
ORGANIZATION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB DE- PARTMENT .- The first appropriation of the Leg- islature for the support of the deaf and dumb was in 1863. The same Legislature appointed George F. Batchelder, R. A. Mott, and David H. Frost as a Board of Commissioners to start the school. Mr. Mott was sent to Ohio, where he obtained the services of Prof. R. H. Kinney, an experienced teacher, who came to Faribault and organized the first deaf-mute school in Minnesota. On the second Wednesday of September, 1863, the school opened with five pupils in attendance. The building occupied was the store and dwelling on Front street known as Major Fowler's store. The next year the school increased, and George W. Chase was employed as assistant teacher.
In 1864, the Legislature appropriated four thousand one hundred dollars for the support of the school, eight hundred and fifty dollars of which were expended in erecting a small wooden building, 18x24, just east of Fowler's store, for a boys' dormitory. This building was subsequently sold and moved to Fourth street, and is now used as a marble factory.
Prof. Kinney experienced difficulties and some hardships in his work and sore bereavement in his family, and at the end of his third year resigned the office of Superintendent.
About this time an important change took place in the contemplated site for a permanent building. The original forty acres of land donated by the citizens of Faribault were sold and the present lot on the bluff east of Straight River was obtained.
Prof. Kinney having retired, the Board of Di- rectors employed J .L. Noyes, of Hartford, Conn., to take his place.
On the 7th of September, 1866, Mr. Noyes and family, with Miss A. L. Steele, assistant teacher, and Miss Henrietta Watson, matron, arrived in Faribault to carry on the work already begun. This year chronicles the appropriation of fifteen
thousand dollars by the Legislature for the first permanent building for the deaf and dumb on the site already mentioned, and the next year the foundation of the north wing of the present edi- fice was commenced, and February 5th, 1867, the corner-stone was laid by the Governor in the presence of the members of the Legislature. The citizens of Faribault had now contributed funds to purchase fifty-four acres of land for the use of the Institution, and by appropriation and pur- chase in 1882 more was added, making the pres- ent site nearly sixty-five acres in all.
NORTH WING .- On the 17th of March, 1868, the North Wing was occupied by the deaf and dumb for the first time. This was a day of great joy to the pupils and all concerned with the school. The building was designed and arranged to ac- commodate fifty pupils; sixty was the maximum.
In May of the same year the blind pupils were added to the deaf-mutes, and soon the quarters became too strait for the occupants.
During the year 1869 the foundation of the South wing was laid, and the superstructure was to be a building suited to accommodate the girls, with class rooms for the blind. These two wings were of equal size, and stood ninety-six feet apart with a temporary passage way between them.
September 10th, 1873, the school was re-organ- ized, with the boys occupying the North Wing, and the girls the South, with appropriate rooms for the blind in each.
The same year steps were taken to provide a separate permanent home for the blind pupils, as there was not room enough for both classes in the two wings, and it being obvious, after a fair trial, that the two classes were so dissimilar that they required separate apartments. Accordingly the old Faribault farm of ninety-seven acres was pur- chased and suitable improvements made, and here, in September, 1874, the school for the blind was re-organized, with A. N. Pratt, Acting Principal ; John J. Tucker, Maria E. Crandall, and Cora Ship- man, teachers.
The places vacated by the blind were soon filled by the deaf and dumb, and in 1879, the plans of the main center building were completed by the architect, Monroe Sheire, Esq., of St. Paul, and steps taken towards completing the entire edifice. In the fall of 1879, the entire building, main center and the two wings, were occupied by the pupils, and the school re-organized under the
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most favorable circumstances ever enjoyed in Min- nesota. The entire edifice is admirably ventilated and warmed by steam, lighted by gas, and abun- dantly supplied with pure spring water.
It is worthy of note to mark the steady growth of the institution in periods of five years each. Five years after the passage of the first act estab- lisbing the Institute in Faribault the school was opened. Five years later the North wing was com- pleted and ready for occupancy. In five years more the South wing was erected and occupied by sixty pupils, and the completion, furnishing and heating of the main center building marks a period of five years more. Every advance has been made as the circumstances of the school de- manded it, and not upon conjecture, or mere probabilities. It is confidently expected that the buildings now provided will afford ample accom- modations for the deaf-mutes of the State for the next ten or fifteen years. The object kept in view has been to build substantially, in good taste, with an eye to utility and the wants of the future, and in a manner becoming a State enterprise.
It was the result of no pre-arrangement, or con- tract, that the same architect drew the plans of the entire building -- the main center and two wings -- at three different times and under three different contracts. Whatever, therefore, of success has been attained in the effort to unite the three portions in one symmetrical, harmonious whole, is due to the architect in faithfully carrying out the instructions of the Board of Directors. And fortunately a majority of the directors has remained on the board during this building period, and have had ideas, more or less definite, in regard to the deaf and dumb, and the size and nature of the build- ings required in providing for them.
The entire cost of all the buildings erected by the State for the deaf and dumb in Faribault, to- gether with heating apparatus, will, in round num- bers amount to $200,000. This ontlay for one school seems large, and yet it is for all time and is moderate in comparison with what neighboring States have expended.
METHODS .- The methods employed in the work of instructing and training the deaf and dumb have been those in common use in the older State institutions at the East, and known as the French- American system of signs, and the combined method, together with a well arranged system of industrial schools. The sign language is taught,
not as an accomplishment, or as an end, but as a means to an end. No better method has been de- vised by which the mass of deaf-mute children can be initiated into the meaning and construction of the English language than by the use of natural signs as now employed in all the older institutions for the deaf and dumb in the United States and Canada. It is simply using the known to obtain a knowledge of the unknown. And all other devices have failed to bear the test of pro- tracted experience.
COMBINED METHODS .- By the combined method is meant the union, or combination, of the sign and oral systems so far as the condition and ability of the pupils will warrant. Recognizing the fact that quite a number-not over twenty per cent .- of the deaf and dumb children received into our schools have some knowledge of spoken language, or by natural endowments, possess the ability to acquire considerable knowledge of speech, pro- vision is made to teach articulation and lip-reading so far as circumstances warrant, and the pupils give evidence of the proper ability: There are a few schools that use only the oral method of instruction, but they fail to educate all, and the sign method has been found to succeed in many cases where the pure oral system failed, hence the wisdom of the combined method.
DIRECTIONS FOR TEACHING THE DEAF AND DUMB AT HOME."-Deaf-mutes begin in early childhood to use the language of natural signs; it is their mother tongue; and parents, brothers, and sisters, should improve every opportunity to talk with them.
Any person with a manual alphabet can select the letters d-o-g, c-a-t, c-o-w, and teach the mute child to spell these words, placing its fingers in the proper position for each letter. Take but one word at a time, spell it slowly and repeatedly. When these words are learned, teach the name of other objects in and about the house. Write these words upon a slate, and require the child to copy them, till it can write them with ease. Then teach its own name and the names of familiar persons, distinguishing them by some appropriate sign.
If a person would consult the welfare of a mute child, it must be taught obedience, right and wrong, just as other children are taught. A nod and smile of approval, or a shake of the head and look of disapproval cannot fail to be understood. There is no mystery in this, as any one may learn who makes the trial."
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INDUSTRIAL CLASSES. In 1869, a cooper shop was opened in which the mute boys were taught coopery. Having been well satisfied with the re- sult of this experiment, in due time a tailor shop, a shoe shop, a printing office, and a department for dressmaking and plain sewing were organized, and all of these have been continued with highly beneficial results. The forenoon is given to school exercises proper, and the afternoons to industrial work. By this method habits of industry, skill and regular physical exercise are formed, and, at the end of their course pupils are graduated with minds that can think, and hands that can use tools skillfully. Thus these unfortunate, dependent children become useful, independent citizens through the aid and bounty of the State.
THE MANNER OF SUPPORT .- As this is strictly a State Institution, the support comes from ap- propriations made by the Legislature from time to time. The appropriations for buildings and improvements come from the same source.
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