History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 80

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196

USA > Ohio > Franklin County > Columbus > History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II > Part 80

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

My connection with the Central Asylum was very short, and not remarkably pleasant. I assumed charge as superintendent January 9, 1877, furnished it, opened it for patients in September of that year, and had admitted about one thousand patients when, on April 9. [1878], I was superseded by the appointment of Doctor W. W. Ellsbury who, resigning, gave way to Doctor [L.] Firestone. I left the institution, and Ohio, May 27, 1878.

These examples will serve to illustrate a long series of changes in manage- ment with which this great charity has been visitsd, chiefly for partisan reasons, in the course of its history. The story is a painful one to contemplate, and we gladly turn from it to other themes.

NOTES.

1. J. H. Pooley, M. D.

2. The different purchases of ground for the use of the asylum, made then and subse- quently, were as follows: August 12, 1835, thirty acres and half of the width of an alley conveyed to the State by Alfred Kelley and R. Neil for $1,980; March 26, 1839, twentysix and eightyeight hundredths acres, conveyed by Alfred Kelley for $2,925; nine acres con- veyed at a later date by William Burdell; seveu and onehalf acres conveyed in February, 1869, from the estate of Robert Armstrong.

3. A correspondent of the Cincinnati Chronicle, writing in February, 1838, described the location of the asylum, then in course of erection, as "about a mile east of the Capitol, on the north side of the old Zanesville road."

4. The members of the board at that time were Doctor S. M. Smith, William B. Thrall, Henry B. Curtis, Henry Wilson, John Hunter and Doctor William Fullerton.

5. These victims were Mrs. Caroline Corner, Miss Lizzie Herold and Mrs. C. Bradford, of Athens County ; Mrs. Murphy (over eighty years of age), of Wyandot County; Mrs. Susan A. Parker, of Licking County, and Bridget Brophy, of Franklin County.

6. The first earth was thrown by William S. Sullivant, the next by Hon. Josiah Scott. Judge of the Supreme Court, the next by W. W. Pollard, surveyor of the grounds, and the next by Hon. A. D. Rodgers.

7. It was thus formally christened on September 1, 1870. The trustees decided at the same time to name the institution the Central Ohio Lunatic Asylum at Glenwood. It was afterwards, in much better taste, given its present title as the Central Asylum for the Insane.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB.

BY ROBERT PATTERSON, PRINCIPAL OF THE SCHOOL DEPARTMENT.

SKETCH OF ROBERT PATTERSON.

BY PROFESSOR ROBERT P. M'GREGOR.

[Those who imagine that the loss of one of the most important senses, that of hearing, incapacitates from attaining distinction in any walk of life, or dwarfs the moral and mental attributes, find a perfect refutation in the career of the subject of this brief sketch. It is also of value as an example of what can be accomplished under the most adverse circumstances and apparently crushing misfortunes at the very outset of life, by an indomitable will and a spirit that soars above all earthly trammels.

Robert Patterson was born in Oakley, Fifeshire, Scotland, near Dumfermline, Decem- ber 11, 1848. When about two weeks old he was carried, in the arms of his aunt Marion, mother of Attorney James Allen, of this city, to the kirk at Carnock, two miles from Oak- ley, to be christened. He was named after his grandfather. His father was a miner. When Robert was three years and seven months old, his parents emigrated to this country and settled at Bloomsburg, Columbia County, Pennsylvania. At the age of six he had an attack of scarlet fever which was prevailing in that neighborhood at the time. He grew worse and worse till at last the doctor lost all hope and, on leaving the house, one morning, happening to meet an undertaker just entering the house next door, where a child had died during the night from the same disease, he said: "There is another job for you in there. The little boy," refer- ring to Rohert, "cannot live." Robert's mother overheard this, and the indomitable spirit which she has transmitted to her son was aroused. She resolved that the doctor's ill-omened prediction should not prove true. She threw his prescriptions to the winds and, resorting to " old country " remedies and careful nursing, wrought such a change that when the doctor called next morning to, as he believed, write out the death certificate, he was astonished to find Robort alive and likely to recover. From that time he rapidly improved, but the dis- ease, as it in revenge at being baffled of its prey, left him without his hearing and a cripple, his left leg being drawn up some six inches shorter than the other.

One day while he was slowly convalescing, as he sat in the doorway enjoying the scenery, being still too weak to do anything else, he attracted the notice of a young doctor who had just come to town. He offered to cure the defect in Robert's limb for a consideration. The offer was accepted by Robert's parents and the doctor went to work, spurred on by the incredu- lity of the neighbors, who did not believe a cure could be effected. However, after several months of patient labor, Robert was able to throw away his crutches, the doctor's reputation was made and his success assured.

[599]

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

Robert removed with his parents to Ohio in 1857, and in September, 1859, he was sent to school at the Institution for the Deaf, here. Meanwhile he had lost, through disuse, on account of his inability to hear, the power of speech. He has since learned to speak a few words and disconnected sentences but not enough to be of much practical use, so he depends almost entirely upon writing to communicate with those who can hear. During one of his summer vacations, which he spent at home, he attracted the attention of Josiah Griffiths, of Salineville, Ohio, an accomplished marble carver and a sculptor of considerable ability. He gave Robert lessons in modeling in clay, drawing and desiguing, and he was so struck with his evident artistic ability in that line that he offered to take him as an apprentice, after he should leave school, and, after he had taught him all he could, to obtain help to send him to Florence, Italy, to finish his studies as a sculptor. Robert was both willing and eager to enter into the arrangement, but his father objected on account of his apparently feeble con- stitution which he feared would be injured by the dust incident to a marble cutter's estab- lishment.

In November, 1865, he suddenly severed his connection with the institution as a pupil and entered the Preparatory Class of the National Deaf Mule College at Washington, D. C. He was the next year admitted to the Freshman Class and graduated in. 1870 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts. He received his diploma from the hands of President Grant, whose signature, as Patron of the College, it also bears.

During the summer of 1869, he was appointed by Hon. Columbus Delano, Commissioner of Internal Revenue, to a clerkship under Third Commissioner Colonel Given, an old resi- dent of this city. His Chief of Division was Colonel Cox, also of this city. These gentlemen were so well pleased with his work that they urged him to return as soon as he had gradu- ated and identify himself with the Government service. It was his intention to do so, with the object in view of preparing himself for newspaper work, but upon the representation of the President of the College that he would be more useful if he devoted his talents to the education of the deaf, when he was offered the position of a teacher in his Alma Mater here, soon after graduating, he resolved to accept it. He was married in 1875 to Miss Rosa O. Gildersleeve, of Ross County, Ohio, one of the teachers at the institution. Like himself she is deaf, but she can speak and is remarkably expert at reading the lips. Four children, all of whom can hear, have resulted from their union. Three of them are living. In May, 1883, he was called to Washington, D. C., to deliver an oration on the late President Garfield's services in behalf of the higher education of the deaf, at the unveiling of a national memorial of him presented to the college by the deaf of the country, and upon that occasion also received the degree of Master of Arts in course.

Professor Patterson has been a frequent contributor to the Annals of the Deaf, a quarterly magazine, the exponent of the profession in this country, and is at present the editor of The Mute's Chronicle, the institution organ. Once he has been honored with the Vice-Presidency of the Ohio Deaf Mute Alumni Association, and twice with the Presidency, In 1889 he was selected by the deaf of the state as their delegate to the International Con- gress of the Deaf which met in Paris, France, in June of that year. In June, 1890, he was chosen Principal of the Institution, and in 1891 he completed a course of study for the school which is acknowledged to be the most thorough and comprehensive for such a school of any ever written. As a master of the sign language of the deaf he has few equals and no superiors. He is known far and wide as a brilliant and talented lecturer and is much in demand as such.

Professor Patterson has been connected with the institution as a pupil, teacher and principal for twentyeight years, and it can be safely said that there is not a man in the state who is more thoroughly equipped and qualified, both by learning and experience, for the responsible and difficult task of supervising the education and training of these wards of the state. That this is true is evinced by the great changes for the better which he has brought about in his department since he took charge of it. Having, as a pupil, overcome, through patient toil, and steady endeavor, all the obstacles incident to the acquisition of knowledge by the deaf, he can appreciate the difficulties that his charges are obliged to encounter and is able to encourage them and show them the best way to succeed. Coupled with this his long experience as a teacher has given him an insight into the workings of the minds of the deaf which is of great value to them and enables him to correctly indicate and direct the methods to be pursued by his subordinates. ]

I. V. Hartman

THE SURGICAL HOTEL.

SURGICAL HOTEL OFFICES, TREATMENT ROOMS AND LABORATORY.

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INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB.

At the north west corner of Town Street and Washington Avenue lies an area of ten acres, enclosed with an iron fence, strong in build though not very beautiful in design, with two massive gateways on the street and one on the avenue, which, for many years prior to 1873, graced Capitol Square. When this tract was pur- chased, in 1829, for the purpose for which it is now used, it was half a mile east from the town and was, in common parlance, referred to as " the hill." On the west was a pond extending from near the present site of the Broad Street Metho- dist Episcopal Church, in a southwesterly direction, to the corner of Rich Street and Hubbell Alley. Across this pond was a bridge near where now is the inter- section of Town Street and Grant Avenue. The road leading westward to the end of Town Street, within the corporation line, which was Fourth Street, was low and As, Ga swampy. It was not until 1852 that the sidewalks of Town Street were paved to these grounds. In the centre of the grounds, two hundred and fifty feet from the street, stands a stately edifice of brick, liberally trimmed with limestone, forming a striking piece of architecture, with its frontage of four hundred feet, its seven towers, of which the central one is one hundred and fifteen feet high ; its iron pil- lared balconies, three in number, one above the other, and its broad flight of lime- stone steps. This is the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb, the fifth of its kind established in the United States.

The institution is an outgrowth of that noble idea of the indispensable condi- tions of liberty which are declared in the ordinance of 1787 and which the Consti- tution of 1802 reiterates in these words: " Religion, morality and knowledge being essentially necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of instruction shall forever be encouraged by legislative provision not inconsistent with the rights of conscience." The same policy that aims at advance along the lines of improvement and helpfulness in every direction to the citizens of the state again showed itself in the Constitution of 1851, which says : " Institutions for the benefit of the insane, blind and deaf and dumb shall always be fostered by the state."

The first time that the subject of deafmute education was brought to the atten- tion of the General Assembly was during the session of 1819-20, when a citizen of Stark County applied for aid from the state to send his deaf son to the American Asylum established at Hartford, Connecticut, in 1817. A bill was reported in his favor but it appears that no final action was taken upon it. In the spring of the following year, 1821, a number of citizens of Cincinnati formed themselves into an association " for establishing a school for the instruction of the deaf and dumb in this part of the western country." Who knows but this movement received its impetus from the fact that a citizen of that city had his deaf son educated at the American Asylum, 1818-22, at his own expense? The association selected a prin- cipal in the person of Rev. James Chute and sent him to Hartford in July to acquire a knowledge of the system of deafmute education, which should qualify him for the new work. Shortly after his return in the Ifollowing November the association applied to the General Assembly for an act of incorporation and for pecuniary aid. The proposed institution was to be named " The Western Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb," and was to be located in Cincinnati. The application was rejected on the ground that a state school of the kind should be centrally located.

The interest thus revived was increased the next year (1822) by the receipt of a letter by Governor Trimble from the directors of the Pennsylvania Institute, established at Philadelphia in 1820, where a Buckeye boy had been sent by his parents in 1821. The letter contained an offer to the General Assembly to receive pupils on the same terms as charged to the citizens of Pennsylvania. The results of a recent census of Pennsylvania were given as evidence that the number of mutes was much greater than was generally supposed. The offer was not accepted,

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but at the next session an act was passed requiring " the listers of the several townships in each county of the state, at the time of taking the enumeration of white persons, to ascertain the number of the deaf and dumb of all ages and to return said lists to the Clerk of Common Pleas of said county " with a statement of their pecuniary condition. Although no returns were made in Athens and Hamilton counties, 428 were returned in the other counties, 288 being under twenty years of age. Of the whole number, 279 were returned as poor, sixtysix as in middling circumstances, seventytwo as in good circumstances and the condition of eleven was not reported. The result of the enumeration brought out two facts : first, that there existed material in the state for a school; second, that it was utterly out of the question to depend for its support upon tuition fees.

This was during the stirring era of canal and school legislation. The air was full of projects for internal improvements and educated citizenship. " An act to provide for the support and better regulation of common schools " was passed February 25, 1825. The law insisted upon " the instruction of youth of every class and grade, without distinction, in reading, writing and other necessary branches of a common education." This prepared the way for a successful effort to establish a school for the deaf which was made at the session of 1826-7. Through the influence of Rev. James Hoge, D. D., of Columbus, the interest of Governor Morrow was enlisted in the subject. In his message to the General Assembly, December 6, 1826, the Governor said : " I would call your attention to a subject interesting to the compassionate feelings of the benevolent and humane. It is a provision for establishing an asylum for the education of deaf and dumb persons in this state. Measures were taken some years since and carried into effect to ascertain the numbers of persons within this state in this unfortunate condition. The result of the enumeration is not before me and cannot now be stated. Accord- ing to the reports from the institutions now in operation, such persons may be estimated at one for every two thousand of the population. The number, then is, and from an increasing population will continue sufficient for a large school. Should an establishment for this purpose be authorized by the legislature, and endowments only to the extent that the present means of the state would justify, be granted, aid to the fund from the voluntary contributions of a benevolent community might be calculated on, and also from the United States, Congress having already granted to the institutions of this kind in Connecticut and Ken- tucky each a township of land."

Doctor Hoge also prepared an elaborate memorial and had it signed by a large number of prominent citizens. This memorial, addressed to the General Assembly, urged immediate action. In the House of Representatives, upon motion of Mr. Guy W. Doan, of Pickaway and Hocking, the following resolution was adopted December 8, 1826 : " That so much of the Governor' smessage as relates to an asylum for the education of the deaf and dumb persons iu this state be referred to a select committee of three members, with leave to report thereon, by bill or otherwise." Messrs. Doan, Daniel Woodmansee of Butler, and Michael Gunckle of Montgomery, were appointed said committee.

On the twentythird of the same month, on motion of Mr Davis Higgins, of Butler, the committee was "instructed to report a bill for the establishment of an asylum for the education of the deaf and dumb." On the twentyseventh the bill was reported and read the first time. The next day it was read a second time and referred to a committee of the whole house On the ninth of January, 1827, Mr. Purviance, of Preble, Paulding, Darke, Mercer, Van Wert and Williams counties, reported the bill with sundry amendments. On the eighteenth, on motion of Mr. Doan, the House took up the report of the committee of the whole house on this bill, and it was recommitted to a committee consisting of Messrs. Hampson, Lathrop, Doan, Woodmansce and Gunckle, to report thereupon. On the nineteenth

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INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF AND DUMB

Mr. Hampson, from the select committee, reported back the bill with sundry amendments which were agreed to, and it was ordered to be engrossed for its third reading on the following day, which was done and the bill passed. On the same day the bill was sent to the Senate, and on the twentysecond it was committed to a committee of the whole Senate.

On the twentythird Mr. Baldwin reported that the committee had made sun- dry amendments to the bill, and it was recommitted to a select committee consist- ing of Messrs. Wyllis Silliman of Muskingum, Ebenezer Currier of Washington and Athens, and Samuel Lee of Coshocton and Tuscarawas. On the twentyfourth Mr. Silliman, from the select committee, reported recommending that " the further consideration of the bill be postponed until the first Monday of December next." The report was not agreed to and the bill was ordered to lie on the table for further consideration. On the same day the Senate resumed consideration of the bill and it was recommitted to a select committee consisting of Messrs. Nathaniel G. Pendleton of Hamilton, Joseph Foos of Franklin, and Daugherty of Champaign and Clark, who recommended its passage. The report was then agreed to, and the bill read a third time and passed January 30, 1827.

Acting upon the suggestion of Governor Morrow's message, Mr. Samuel Dun- lap, of Tuscarawas, offered a resolution in the House on the fourth of January, 1827, that a committee of three members be appointed to prepare a resolution looking to a donation of a township from Congress for the use of the institution. Messrs. Dunlap, Doan and Higgins were appointed said committee, and on the next day Mr. Dunlap reported the following resolution : " That our Senators in Congress be instructed and our Representatives be requested to use their exertions to obtain from Congress a grant of a tract or tracts of land in this state, equal in quantity to one original surveyed township, for the purpose of aiding in the education of the deaf and dumb persons in this state." This resolution was agreed to and sent to the Senate for coneurrence, but it appears that no action was taken upon it by that body. It was not until Governor MeArthur took up the subject again in his message to the legislature of 1830-1 that a resolution passed both houses. A bill granting a township passed the United States Senate without opposition and it was confidently expected to meet with equal favor in the House. It failed, however, only for the want of time, as it was not reached, in the order of business, at the hour of adjournment. No other effort in this direction was ever made.

Before any organization was effeeted under the act of incorporation a school for deaf mutes was started at Tallmadge, now in Summit County. A citizen of that place, Justus Bradley by name, had three deaf and dumb daughters in his family. A mute by the name of Colonel Smith, who had been educated at the American Asylum, took up his residence there. The citizens, struck by the contrast between an educated mute and an uneducated one, and finding that there were other mutes in the vicinity, held a meeting March 19, 1827, at which a resolution was adopted " to make an attempt to establish a school or asylum for the deaf and dumb." A committee with full powers was appointed and the school was opened in May under the instruction of Mr. Smith. It was continued two years and was sus- tained by private charity with the exception of $100 given to it by the legislature in 1828 towards paying the salary of the teacher. The bill which granted this sum also allowed $100 for the next year " should the school at Columbus not go into active operation." The money was never drawn from the treasury. Eleven pupils were enrolled in this Tallmadge school, which, to use the words of the com- mittee, " if public sentiment and benevolence shall justify, is intended to become a permanent institution."

In accordance with the act incorporating the institution, a board of trustees was appointed by the General Assembly. The board consisted of the following gentlemen : Rev. James Hoge and Hon. Gustavus Swan, of Franklin County ;

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HISTORY OF THE CITY OF COLUMBUS.

Hon. Thomas Ewing, of Fairfield ; Rev. William Graham, of Ross; John H. James, of Champaign ; Thomas D. Webb, of Trumbull ; and Sampson Mason, of Clark. This board met and organized in July, 1827, with Governor Trimble as President, ex officio ; Rev. Dr. Hoge, Secretary, and Hon. Gustavus Swan, Treasurer. Invested with the usual corporate powers to hold property for the object specified, the annual income of which should not exceed $30,000, the board assumed the duty of organizing the first of the now socalled Public Benevolent Institutions of Ohio.

The plans of the board contemplated a school that should receive all pupils north and west of the Ohio and also divide with the Kentucky Asylum, founded in 1823, the patronage of the Mississippi Valley. It was estimated that fifty pupils were eligible from Ohio alone, and twentyfive from the states and territories west of it. The board recommended that the institution be located at Columbus, urging that " At this place it will be under the eye, and subject to the inspection of the Legislature, its immediate patron, at all tinies, and the facilities of intercourse and conveyance which are collected at this point render it more convenient to every part of the state than any other place."

By an act of the General Assembly, passed in January, 1829, an appropria- tion of five hundred dollars was made for the purchase of a site for the institution in Columbus. The committee of the board on sites consisted of Messrs. Gustavus Swan, N. McLean and Michael L. Sullivant, who selected the present site, com- prising three outlots containing three and a third acres each. Three hundred dollars were paid to John B. McDowell, Peter Sells and James Hoge February 21, 1829, for the lots. The trustees, in their report for the year, speak of "these lots as sold to us for the use designed for a price considerably below the supposed value." Doctor Hoge, in a letter to Hon. M. Birchard, April 25, 1854, also said : " These lots were sold to the state for less than their value, for the express pur- pose of being so used, and would by no means have been sold at that price for individual use." For want of funds the trustees were not able to erect any build- ings until 1832.

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History of the city of Columbus, capital of Ohio, Volume II, Part 80

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co Publication date: 1892 Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1196

Author: Lee, Alfred Emory, 1838-; W. W. Munsell & Co
Publication date: 1892
Publisher: New York and Chicago : Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1196