USA > Minnesota > Rice County > History of Rice and Steele counties, Minnesota, Vol. I > Part 39
USA > Minnesota > Steele County > History of Rice and Steele counties, Minnesota, Vol. I > Part 39
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by the citizens of Faribault was sold and the present lot on the bluff cast of Straight river was obtained. Professor Kinney having retired, the board of directors employed Dr. J. L. Noyes, of Hartford, Conn., to take his place. September 7, 1866, Dr. Noyes and family, with A. L. Steele, assistant teacher, and with Miss Henrietta Watson, matron. arrived in Faribault to carry out the work already begun. This year chronicles the appropria- tion of $15,000 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 edifice was commenced. February 5, 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 54 acres of land for the use of the institutions, and by appropriation and purchase in 1882, more was added making a site of 65 acres.
March 17, 1868, the north wing was occupied by the deaf and dumb for the first time. The building was designed and arranged to accommodate 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 small 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 and the class rooms for the blind. These two wings were of equal size and stood 96 feet apart with temporary passage way between them. September 10, 1873, the school was reorganized 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 as to require separate apartments. Accordingly the blind were removed to the present site of that school. The places vacated by the blind were soon filled by the deaf and dumb and in 1879 the plans for the main center building were completed, by Monroe Sheire, of St. Paul, and steps taken for completing the entire edifice. This has since been known as Mott hall, in honor of Hon. R. A. Mott who has done so much for the state institu- tions here. In the fall of 1879 the entire main center and the two wings were occupied by the pupils and the school reorganized.
Since then various buildings have been added. There is a building for the teaching of manual training, and an engine house. There is also a laundry and hospital. In the present year, two class room buildings have been united by a domed
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auditorium, making another beautiful building, and adding a pleasant feature to the landscape.
At the death of Dr. Noyes, after years of faithful service, the present superintendent, Dr. J. N. Tate, was appointed, and has since ably served the institution.
This school has already been instrumental in preparing hundreds of deaf youths to be useful and self reliant citizens, and year by year a few are graduated, well prepared to take their places beside the hearing and speaking youths who leave the public schools. Pupils receive instruction in the following trades and handicrafts : baking, blacksmithing, cabinet making, chair caning, carpentry, cooking, drawing, dressmaking, fancy work, glazing, ironing, painting, printing, sewing, shoemaking, sloyd, woodcarving, wood inlaying, and wood turning. A large part of the repairing to buildings and furniture is done by the pupils, so the trades are not only schools for the pupils, but are a means of revenue to the state. The industrial training in the institution is regarded as second in importance only to that done in the literary department. The methods of instruction are eclectic. They admit of every known way. That in use at this institution is known as the combined system. The method is adapted to the child. The one object in the preparation of the pupil for life's battle, is never lost sight of. One central thought dominates, from the time the pupil enters school until his course is completed, that is to give him a knowledge of the English language, in all cases written and where possible, also spoken. The aim is to give every pupil the opportunity to demonstrate his ability to be successfully educated orally. All pupils are taught drawing and special lessons are given in painting to a number. The proper age for admittance is eight years. The regular school period is ten years, to which a special course of three years may be added.
MINNESOTA SCHOOL FOR FEEBLE-MINDED AND COLONY FOR EPILEPTICS.
Recognition of the necessity and advantage of public care for the feeble-minded and the establishment of institutions for this purpose have been matters of later historical sequence than the institutional education of the deaf and blind. This has resulted from two facts: First, the lack of knowledge as to the large number of feeble-minded in society, and second, the assump- tion that nothing could be done for them. So, in Minnesota, while the deaf and blind had for a number of years previous been educated in Faribault it was not until March 8, 1879, that a
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law was passed looking to the care and training of their more unfortunate brothers and sisters.
Under date of November 30, 1868, Dr. J. L. Noyes, superin- tendent of the Minnesota Institution for the Education of the Deaf, Dumb and Blind, reported that two children were dismissed on account of being weak-minded, there being no facilities for their training and the law limiting the privileges of the institu- tion to those of "capacity to incur instruction." The act of 1879 established a commission to visit the hospitals for insane and among other duties they were required to select idiotic and feeble-minded persons found there and turn them over to the trustees of the deaf, dumb and blind institution. The latter were authorized to establish a school for their training. Five thousand dollars was appropriated for this purpose for 1879 and $6,000 for the year 1880. This school was spoken of as the "Experimental School" and the work was begun in a frame building belonging to George M. Gilmore, situated on the east side bluff between Second and Third streets, formerly used as a private school for young ladies and known as the "Fairview House." The school was organized by Dr. Henry M. Knight, a veteran in the care and training of the feeble-minded from Lakeville, Conn. His son, Dr. George H. Knight was elected superintendent on June 1, 1879, under the general superintendence, however, of Dr. Noyes at the head of the School for Deaf. On July 18, 1879, Dr. George Knight arrived to take charge of the work and on July 28 of the same year fourteen children (nine boys and five girls) selected by the commission. (consisting of Dr. George W. Wood. of Faribault; Dr. W. Il. Leonard, of Minneapolis; and Dr. C. H. Boardman, of St. Paul), from the St. Peter Hospital for Insane, were received at the institution at Faribault.
On March 7, 1881, the legislature passed a bill introduced by the Hon. R. A. Mott, from Faribault, establishing a perma- ment school at the latter place, termed a "Department for the Training of Imbeciles and the Custody of Idiots" in connection with the institution for the deaf. dumb and blind, nominally, although to be located in new buildings for the construction of which the legislature provided $25,000. The contract for the new permanent quarters was let on May 2, 1881. On May 19, 1881, Dr. George Knight was made superintendent of this department, the administration being entirely separate from that of the school for deaf. On February, 1882, the inmates were moved into their new quarters, which is now the north section of the north wing of the present administration building. On April 20, 1884, the legislature having provided for same, contract was let for an additional building attached to the one mentioned
VAIN BUILDING
H
GEO. E. SKINNER HALL
TUBERCULOSIS
MINNESOTA SCHOOL FOR FEEBLE-MINDED AND COLONY FOR EPILEPTICS
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above of equal capacity. These two sections provided, when completed, for about one hundred children.
April 20, 1885, Dr. Knight resigned as superintendent and on July 6 following Dr. A. C. Rogers, at the time physician to the government training school for Indians near Salem, Ore., was elected to the position and took charge September 1 of the same year, having thus just completed twenty-five years of service at Faribault. Dr. Rogers' previous experience in this work had been at the School for Feeble-Minded at Glenwood, Iowa, for five years.
Until 1901, when the legislature adopted a central board of control for state institutions, this institution was under the general management of a board of directors, consisting of five members appointed by the governor, the latter and the superin- tendent of public instruction, being ex officio members thereof. Politics never has effected the organization of the institution itself, and the governing board changed but little in personnel, except during a short time just before the board of control organ- ization. The members who were in control of this institution at its beginning had already served long periods in charge of the schools for the deaf and blind. Rodney A. Mott, appointed in 1863, was still serving in 1901. Hudson Wilson, appointed in 1866, served till 1899, when he was succeeded by Edgar H. Loyhed. Thomas B. Clement served from 1875 till 1900, B. B. Sheffield succeeding him. George E. Skinner, of St. Paul, appointed in 1876. served until his death in September, 1895. Rev. George B. Whipple, who was appointed in 1882, served until his death in 1888, created a vacancy filled by Anthony Kelly, of Minneapolis. Ill health caused the retirement of the latter in 1898, and he was succeeded by John O'Brien, of Still- water. J. G. Pyle, of St. Paul, succeeded Mr. Skinner and remained on the board until December, 1898. He was succeeded by A. B. Ovitt, of St. Paul, whose removal from the state again created a vacancy and for the short, unexpired term, the place was filled by George H. Gifford, of St. Paul, and Henry D. Stocker, Jr., of Minneapolis, successively. Mention should be made of Horace E. Barron, an old pioneer of Minnesota, who served as steward for the three schools for many years until the time of his death in February, 1892.
In April, 1901, the board of control of state institutions con- sisting of, at that time, W. E. Lee, Long Prairie ; C. A. Morey, of Winona; and S. W. Leavett, of Litchfield, took charge. An accident to Mr. Morey in May of that year, incapacitated him for work and he was compelled to resign the first of July, three months after his appointment, and the vacancy was filled by O. B. Gould, of Winona.
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Each succeeding session of the legislature since 1885 has provided in part to meet the large demand for admission that has constantly faced the institution. In 1890 the board purchased a tract of land, consisting of 190 acres, known as the "Gilmore Farm," which has since provided the garden produce and milk consumed by the institution population.
In 1894, "Sunnyside" was first occupied as a distinct custodial or asylum building for those children unable to profit by school room training. The corresponding building, known as "Skinner Hall," was constructed in 1896 and named in honor of George E. Skinner, of St. Paul, a former trustee of the institution and whose influence had been exerted strongly in support of a better classification of the inmates, realized by the construction of these buildings.
In 1900 the first building distinctively for epileptics was erected as the beginning of the epileptic colony, which now has five cottages devoted to the care of this class of patients, in one of which a modern hydrotherapeutic equipment is installed and is in regular use in their treatment.
The original administration building with the various addi- tions thereto since 1881 has been devoted to the work of school training.
A corps of twenty teachers conduct a well organized school in which manual and industrial training are predominant features. For the girls there is training in netting, basketry, plain and fancy sewing as well as mending and darning, lace making, ironing, domestic work and gardening. And to the trained girls comes the opportunity to do work for which each has an aptitude. Such helpers, often quite independent, are found in the dressmaking and tailor shops, in mending room, kitchen and dining room, in the laundry and at the chicken ranch.
While boys who are schooled in netting, basketry, sloyd work, mat braiding and sewing, and brush making later become valuable helpers in the care of their own departments about the institution, mattress and cabinet shops, the barn, laundry, green- house, garden, farm and dairy.
In 1909 the board purchased for the school a colony farm in the town of Walcott, its nearest point being one and one-half miles south of the administration building. Here it is proposed to colonize the trained boys where they will have a farm home and assist in land culture and stock raising.
In 1909 the legislature created a department for incurables, those who are not mentally affected but are physically perma- nently helpless as a result of disease.
At the present time there are about sixty buildings of all kinds pertaining to the institution and its functions; about 863
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acres of land, all of which, with furnishings and equipment have cost about $881,000.
The population of the entire institution the first week in June, 1910, was as follows: First, Feeble-Minded department school, male 226, female 195, total 421; farm colony, male 55; custodial, male 283, female 266, total 549. Second, Epileptic colony, male 88, female, 122, total 210. Third, incurables, male 1, female 2, total 3. Total 1.238.
Funds have been provided for extending the capacity to 1,500 and four buildings are now under construction, or being planned by the architect, for completing such extension.
The institution is a village community for the classes indicated, with the same activities as pertain to a community of normal people with its regular duties, recreations and pleasures where in a happy community they can be protected from the results of their own mistakes and the slights and rebuffs of a cold world too busy to be patient with their peculiarities, and yet where their efforts be they much or little contribute toward their maintenance.
Such an institution is also an insurance for the benefit of the citizens of the commonwealth ; for no young family is free from the possibility of an accession to its membership of a defective child .- A. C. Rogers.
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE ATHENS OF THE WEST.
Faribault as the City of Churches, Schools, Parks and Homes by A. E. Haven-Its Many Advantages as a Place of Resi- dence-Library and City Hall-County Court House and Jail-City Jail-Firemen's Hall-Central Park-Faribault Park - Railroads - St. Lucas Deaconess Hospital - City Lighting-Street Names-Waterworks-Sewer System- Bridges-City Market-Quarry-Telephone and Telegraph -Armory and Theater.
Someone, apparently well versed in history, both ancient and modern, has been pleased to denominate Faribault "The Athens of the West," and while the writer cannot understand entirely why he did so, he can offer no reason why we should not cheer- fully accept the appellation, believing that while we may never be correctly credited with the wondrous bounty of mountain and plain that has made the Hellenic City famous as a vision of beauty ; or with that atmosphere so pure and reflective as to give it the title of "The City of the Violet Crown ;" or with scholars, statesmen and philosophers, who, for centuries, brought all the world to its feet to receive knowledge nowhere else attainable ; yet we have beauty of hills and valleys, woods and plains, flowing rivers and shimmering lakes, the first sight of which led at least one pilgrim to exclaim when they first entered his range of vision : "I sought a home ; I have found a paradise."
A year or two since the writer stood in the presence of a worldwide traveler on the elevation a little to the north of St. James school which overlooks "Peaceful Valley" to the northeast of Faribault, and as his eyes took in hill and valley, town and country, woods and fields, rivers and lakes, covering a range of many miles, heard him say that he had "never seen a more beautiful landscape-one that harmonized all the beauties of nature, without a discord. so perfectly as this," and he had looked upon the charms of the home of Aristotle and Plato, he had seen the beauties of the Rhine, the wonders of the Nile, and the glories of the Alps ; and while we may never hope for a Jupiter Olympus. or a Parthenon, yet we have schools, founded and conducted, if not for the glory, at least for the good of mankind, that educate
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not to astonish the world, but to benefit it. The Athenians lived in the shadow of their temples, learned as an Aristotle, but homeless as a Diogenes. Faribault educates for the home, for the fireside and its virtues and the Christian church and the Christian school here go hand in hand along the pathway of life to a greater glory than Athens ever knew.
Previous to April 1872, Faribault was but a township, gov- erned by a board of supervisors, and its earliest date as a hamlet is 1855, while many yet doing business or practicing the profes- sions within its limits, had reached manhood's estate. Since its incorporation as a city its growth has been steady and satisfac- tory ; but not of the Jonah's gourd variety.
It is located on an elevated plateau, well above highwater mark, the confluence of the Cannon and Straight rivers which flow in from the west and south and whose waters in the sum- mer seasons are fed from springs and lakes along their courses. It is fifty-three miles from St. Paul, the capital of the state, and fifty-six miles from Minneapolis, the chief commercial city of the state. It is a spot of great natural beauty, surrounded by hills on every side except to the northeast, where the waters of the Straight and Cannon rivers join on their way to the sea. Within the distance of ten miles it has eight beautiful lakes, two of which are within three miles of the city and all abounding in fish of the game varieties. Coming into the city from almost any direc- tion, along well kept county roads and by the side of lakes and rivers the town is seen, while yet three or four miles away lying as if it were in a valley surrounded by hills, and yet its founda- tions are many feet above the rivers that flow through or by it. To eross from one side of the city to another six bridges are employed, all substantial steel or concrete structures, and other bridges are used to cross ravines that set back through the hills to the higher country beyond.
Entering the city are three trunk lines of railroad, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, the Chicago Great Western and their branches which reach the Mississippi at Red Wing and Wabasha. No better facilities for traveling or freighting are afforded any city in the state aside from St. Paul and Minneapolis.
The more important interests of Faribault are its state, public and private schools which have had a wonderful growth since Faribault was organized as a city, thirty-eight years ago, all of which have added greatly to their lists of students and materially to their groups of buildings. Finer school buildings can scarcely be found anywhere, even at the great educational centers of the east. They are modern in design and equipment. Their large faculties are the best educators to be procured and their success
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in drawing pupils from all parts of the world may in some degree account for the title given Faribault as "The Athens of the West." Seabury Divinity school, which gives a complete college and divinity course for young men desirous of entering the min- istry of the Protestant Episcopal church, has about forty students and a faculty of nine distinguished educators. Shattuck school, founded in 1865 by Rt. Rev. H. B. Whipple, the first Protestant Episcopal bishop of Minnesota, and Rev. J. Lloyd Breck, is the oldest school of its kind in the west. Its buildings are modern and its equipment the best. It has two hundred pupils and a faculty of twenty accomplished teachers. It prepares boys for college or gives them a complete business education. Its mili- tary training under a competent United States army officer is a much desired feature of the school. St. Mary's hall, a school for girls, has fine, well equipped buildings, spacious grounds, one hundred pupils and a faculty of twenty highly qualified teachers. It prepares girls for college and all its graduates are carefully fitted for the duties and demands of society and home. Music and art work are specialties. St. James school, a school for young boys, is also a military school, or to speak more plainly, its disci- pline is the military system. It prepares boys to enter Shattuck or other schools of its grade. It has fine, new, modern buildings and has been a wonderful success from its founding in 1901. It has forty pupils and a faculty of able instructors. Bethlehem academy, a finishing school for young ladies, under the manage- ment of the Dominican Sisters of the Roman Catholic church, has fine, modern, well equipped buildings, an excellent corps of teachers and 118 pupils. Its specialty is art work and music.
The three state institutions located here are the Minnesota School for the Deaf, the Minnesota School for the Blind, and the Minnesota School for the Feeble-Minded. They all have commo- dious, modern school buildings and about 1,450 pupils. The faculty of each school is the best to be procured.
The grounds of all these schools, save those of Bethlehem academy, are unsurpassed, covering many acres of ground and are laid out in a system of parks that extend for a mile and a half along the top of the bluffs to the east of the city affording a most attractive drive to both residents and visitors.
Bethlehem academy occupies spacious, well kept grounds on the west side of Straight river and is not in the general line that takes in St. James, Shattuck, School for the Deaf, St. Mary's hall, Seabury, School for the Blind, and the School for the Feeble- Minded.
The public schools are of the highest order of excellence. being provided with a large, commodious, handsome high school building, four fine grade buildings and several primary buildings
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located in different parts of the city. The schools all have most capable teachers.
Besides these schools there are several excellent parish schools, Roman Catholic and Lutheran and also a business college under efficient management, with a liberal attendance, and if Modern Faribault has a single feature of which it may justly be proud it is its schools.
But Faribault may drop its Athenian title, based undoubtedly upon its ability to educate, and yet have much left to give it an enviable place among the minor cities of the state. It is a city of business, mercantile and mechanical, as well as educational. It has handsome business streets lined upon either side with commodious store buildings; it has mills and manufactories, including extensive flour manufacture, machine shops, foundrys, woolen mills, gasoline engine and windmill plants, furniture factories, rattan works, carriage factories, canning factory, piano factory, belt sanding machine factory, gas and electric lighting and power plants; employers' elevator manufactory, two tele- phone exchanges, stone quarries, the product of which enter largely into the construction of some of Faribault's best build- ings ; brick yards, a large shoe factory, creameries, a large seed house, with an extensive patronage from every state in the Union and Canada ; a machine shoe repair shop, and numerous smaller manufactories and shops engaged in almost every line of manu- facture and repair.
Faribault has within its limits three excellent water powers which are utilized for the manufacture of flour, woolen goods and to operate the electric lighting and power plant. Near the city is another water power, recently purchased, and soon to be used to increase the water power of the city which in its turn will provide electric power for all kinds of manufacturing. One of its chief advantages is its location for manufacturies ; cheap land, within the city's limits and along railroad lines; cheap power, water and electric ; the best of shipping facilities ; cheap rents, and cheap lots for home building, together with unexcelled school privileges.
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