Description: This photograph shows two adults, a man and a woman, observing a young man playing the organ at the Ohio School for the Blind, Columbus, ca. 1960-1970. In 1837 the Ohio government established the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind, the predecessor to the Ohio State School for the Blind. It was the first public school for the blind in the United States. Located in downtown Columbus, the school opened its doors in 1839. Any blind children residing in Ohio could attend the institution. Eleven students enrolled at the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind this first year. The school initially had a maximum capacity of sixty students, but a move to a new building in 1874 increased the capacity to than three hundred students at a time. Between 1839 and 1901, a total of 2,058 students enrolled at the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind, with 339 attending in 1901 alone. In the early 1900s the Ohio Institution for the Education of the Blind became known as the Ohio State School for the Blind, and the Ohio Department of Education assumed control of the school. In 1953 the school moved ten miles north of its original location to its present home. In 2005, 126 students enrolled in the Ohio State School for the Blind. Students as young as three and as old as twenty-one years of age attended the school. Students could receive their entire education—kindergarten through high school—at the institution. The Ohio State School for the Blind also offers vocational training for its students. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06651
Subjects: Ohio State School for the Blind; Blind--Education; Musical instruments; Organ (Musical instrument); Education; Students
Places: Columbus (Ohio); Franklin County (Ohio)