Illinois School for the Deaf

I.S.D. was founded in 1839 as the Illinois Asylum for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. Before students could be served, the buildings and campus had to be planned, money appropriated, and someone with experience in deafness had to be hired to run the program. Dr. Julian Sturtevant, a Board member, was assigned the task of collecting information about buildings and how to plan for the school. Dr. Sturtevant, a professor at Illinois College, sent a letter to Thomas H. Gallaudet in Hartford, Connecticut, asking Gallaudet how Illinois should proceed. Gallaudet replied, “The subject is a great one. You are acting for several large states, and for posterity. Act worthy of Illinois.”

After years of planning and construction, the Board of Directors set December 1, 1845 as the opening day of school for I.S.D. Two students were to be admitted: Joseph M. Driskell from Pleasant Valley who was 14 years of age, and Susan Lovejoy from Tremont, age 26. The Board appointed Thomas Officer, a teacher of the deaf from Ohio, as principal and teacher and he began work in October to get ready for the students. 

The opening of school was delayed for almost two months because of a heavy snowstorm and a very cold winter. Four students arrived for the first day of school on January 26, 1846. Five more were in attendance by the end of the school year. When I.S.D. opened for its second term on September 17, 1846, 14 students were present. Eight of the students had deaf relatives and five of the 14 eventually married someone who had attended I.S.D. 

Principal Officer was the first teacher, but he soon hired an assistant, Thomas Dunlap, for a short period of time. Dunlap was a deaf man who had graduated from the Kentucky School for the Deaf. Mr. Officer had to use some of his own money to keep the school going. Since the class sizes were small, Mr. Dunlap was not retained and Officer taught all the students.

Mary T. Waldo from Osceola, Missouri, was the first valedictorian of the first graduation class. Mary became deaf as a result of scarlet fever when she was two years of age. She entered I.S.D. at age 12 in 1849 and graduated in 1855. No one else graduated until 1859, but several very interesting events happened during this period. 

The Illinois General Assembly had set-up state institutions under a dual system of management. Thus, the principal and steward at I.S.D. had equal authority. Conflicts arose and over a period of time in the 1850's, the Board fired three stewards at I.S.D. (Later in 1857, the General Assembly abolished all steward offices in the state.) It was natural for friends and supporters of each side to become antagonistic, and as trouble continued to brew, this led to such a division on the Board of Directors that on October 16, 1855, Prin. Officer resigned and soon thereafter did the secretary, treasurer, and two other members of the Board.

School began that fall of 1855 with 107 students enrolled. Prin. Officer’s resignation left the school without a leader. The turmoil and chaos affected everyone to the extent that most students and teachers left the school. By the spring of 1856, only 22 students and one or two teachers remained at I.S.D.

In the early 1850's the Morgan Journal newspaper began writing about the poor management of the state institutions by the Board of Directors. It appears that half of Jacksonville supported the Board and the other half Prin. Officer. There were many very angry people. In 1853, the president of the Board got a group of men together and beat up the editor of the Morgan Journal who had published negative statements about the Board. And later, Prin. Officer was physically threatened. 

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On Dec. 7th, 1855, almost two months after his resignation, the following letter was sent to Mr. Officer:

Thomas Officer Esq.

Dear Sir.

We, the undersigned have learned with profound regret, that you are about to retire from the post, from which you have so long and so ably filled, as Principal of the Illinois State Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb. We can regard this event in no other light, than as a most serious calamity to that institution and we cannot forbear to express the hope, that in some way, you may yet be re established in your former position, under auspices, which shall give promise to you of continued usefulness and happiness in that responsible station.

While we are fully aware that you need stand in need of no testimonial from us, to shield you from the shafts of injustice so industriously aimed at you, we cannot deny ourselves the gratification of expressing to you our high appreciation of your eminent services to the institution, which you are about to leave, our unbounded confidence in the purity, integrity and fidelity, with which you have ever served the best interests of that institution - and our warmest assurance of an earnest and lasting interest in your welfare and happiness in life.

With the highest respect and most friendly regard, we are -

Very Truly Yours -

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The letter was signed by 80 men; many were well-respected in the community. Several were or had been officers and members of the Board of Directors. The apparent author of the letter, David A. Smith, had provided three acres of land in 1842 that I.S.D. was built on. Dr. Julian Sturtevant, president of Illinois College, signed the letter as did Richard Yates, the civil war governor of Illinois and close friend of Abraham Lincoln.

On April 26th, 1856, Philip G. Gillett, a 24 year old teacher from Indianapolis, was hired as principal. The Jacksonville community was upset with the Board because they had selected such a young, inexperienced person to solve complicated problems facing the school and citizens of the city. The Board instructed Gillett to travel around the state and get the students back and in the fall, school opened with 109 students. 

Gillett had another problem to solve. He had a school full of students, but only one or two teachers. Up to this point in time in the midwest, only men were employed to teach deaf students. Gillett, noticing the fine abilities of ladies in raising young children, felt the same characteristics would serve them well as teachers of deaf children. Since he desperately needed teachers, he took advantage of the opportunity and hired Elizabeth Lawrence of Jacksonville. This was his “grand experiemnt” as he called it to see if women were truly fit for the role!