ROCHESTER HISTORY

Edited by Ruth Rosenberg-NaparsteckCity Historian

Vol. LXIV Winter 2002 No. 1

The Rochester School for the Deaf

by Ruth Rosenberg-Naparsteck

ROCHESTER HISTORY, published quarterly by RochesterPublic Library. Address correspondence to City Historian,Rochester Public Library, 115 South Avenue, Rochester, NY14604. http://www.rochester.lib.ny.us/~rochhist/______________________________________________________________________Subscriptions to the quarterly Rochester History are $8.00 peryear by mail. Foreign subscriptions $12.00. $3.00 per copy backissue.

Lincoln Quickprint-SP©ROCHESTER PUBLIC LIBRARY 2002 US ISSN 0035-7413

Dr. Alexander Graham Bell with the students of The School for the Deaf, thenThe Western New York School for Deaf Mutes. Dr. Westervelt stands on the top

of the stairs.

Cover: Perkins Hall, main buildings of The Rochester School for the Deaf

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Inside the door of the Rochester School for the Deaf, thegrandfather clock ticks in a large foyer. Old portraits hang inantique frames, much like it must have been 125 years ago.The large wooden door which the School’s first superintendentpassed through a thousand times, still opens to let in newvisitors.

Deaf Education in the WildernessEarly in the 19th century there was no opportunity for

deaf children in the wilderness of the Genesee Country.Many children were sent to the County Poor House or keptat home without any education, language or orientation toeveryday life skills. The earliest record found of the educa-tion of a Rochester area deaf child was of Nancy Orr fromBath who enrolled in Hartford School in Hartford, Con-necticut in 1817, the year Rochester became a village. A fewyears later, in 1822, Franklin Scovel opened a school for thedeaf in Palmyra in association with the Presbytery ofGeneva. The church’s Rev. Joseph Penney and the BishopComfort Williams were names to become known later byRochester’s abolitionists. Palmyra was larger than Rochester

in 1822 because the Erie Canalcreated an economic and popula-tion boom. In 1822 when theschool was opened in Palmyra,there were only three other schoolsfor the Deaf in America. TheAmerican Asylum in Hartford, TheNew York School for the Deaf(Fanwood) which opened in 1818and the Pennsylvania Institute forthe Deaf in Philadelphia whichopened in 1820

In August of 1844, HarveyPindle Peet of the New York School(Fanwood) brought some of his

students to Rochester where they held a performance in theWashington Street Church. Franklin Scovel’s school nolonger existed and a number of Rochester area childrenwere sent away. Fanwood was the most accessible and at

Carolyn Perkins

least five Rochester area deaf chil-dren attended there; Jane Simonsand Mary Ann Smith, both orphans,Cornelia Lathrop and two unidenti-fied children who died from fever in1852.

Jane Simons sent a letter to JohnH. Thompson, who had taken her asan infant to the Monroe CountyPoor House. He later took her toFanwood and by 1852 when she wasfourteen, she told him in a letter shewas doing well and asked him to

extend her best wishes to her friends and relatives in Roch-ester. The letter was published in the Rochester Daily Demo-crat January 28, 1852.

The Lathrops lived in Rochesterand sent their daughter, Cornelia,to Fanwood where their familyfriend, Rev. Thomas Gallaudettaught the deaf along with HarveyPindle Peet. Rev. Gallaudet was theoldest son of Thomas HopkinsGallaudet. When Cornelia becamegravely ill, her family moved toNew York to be near her. ThoughRev. Gallaudet informed Corneliashe would not survive her illness,she held to her faith. Her strengthso inspired Rev. Gallaudet that hefounded the first church for thedeaf, St. Ann’s Church in New YorkCity, a few months after her death. Cornelia Lathrop is nowburied at Mt. Hope Cemetery near the graves of Susan B.Anthony and Frederick Douglass.

Sharing Education with OthersMore than a century and a quarter ago Carolyn Erickson

Perkins was born to Gilman and Caroline Perkins in Roch

Mrs. Edmund Lyon(Carolyn Hamilton

Talcott Lyon)

Edmund Lyon

ester. She was still aninfant when her parentsrealized that littleCarolyn could not hear.Of course, she was notthe first child born deafin the city, but it was herbirth on July 24th, 1868that changed the historyof western New York, thehistory of the deaf andthe fortunes of thousandsof children born orhaving acquired deafness.Carolyn’s mother was thedaughter of AaronErickson, founder of theUnion Trust Company.

She had a reputation as a visionary and the willingness toconfront challenges. Wanting an education for her daughter,she visited a school for the deaf in Frederick, Marylandwhile visiting relatives. While there she met a young teachernamed Mary Hart Nodine. She recognized the warmth andtalent of Miss Nodine and invited her to Rochester as aprivate teacher for Carolyn.

Mary Nodine was engaged to Zenas Freeman Westervelt,a teacher at the Frederick Schooland he often came to visit at thePerkins household. For yearsProfessor Westervelt had beengathering names of deaf childrenin central and western New Yorkwho were not in school. He feltRochester would be a good loca-tion for a new school because ofthe high number of deaf studentsand its accessibility by railroad.Mrs. Perkins became aware of Mr.Westervelt’s project and proposed

Mary Westervelt(Mary Nodine Westervelt)

Dr. Westervelt in his favorite study.

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that after the marriage of Mary andZenas they come to Rochester toopen a private school supported byMr. and Mrs. Perkins and othermembers of the community.

Professor Westervelt advised thatthe school should include deafchildren without financial resources.Dr. Martin B. Anderson, Presidentof the University of Rochester, and amember of the New York Board ofCharities and Dr. Thomas Gallaudet,by then a member of the Board ofDirectors of the New York Institute,approved of the formation of theschool, recognizing that the New York Institute at Fanwoodwas over crowded. At a meeting of citizens convened by themayor, the Western New York Institution for Deaf Muteswas organized on February 3, 1876. By May 15, the Schoolwas recognized by the State of New York as a public schoolthat under the State Board of Charities could operate as anindependent corporation.

Mr. Westervelt noted that the number of deaf children inWestern New York was about four hundred. By correspon-

dence Mr. Westervelt was awareof 112 who had never attendedschool. Thirty others had grownto adulthood without formaleducation because there was noschool to attend. The new schoolin Rochester could enroll 170Western New York deaf studentsthen attending Fanwood. Mr.Westervelt estimated that theschool could open with as manyas 200 students when the parentsof other deaf children in the areabecame aware of the school. ABoard was elected and on Febru-ary 4, 1876 a constitution and by-

Alexander Graham Bell

Girls using Lyon’s PhoneticSpelling in 1891.

laws were adopted. Committees were appointed and Mr.Westervelt was named superintendent. Mr. Westervelt wassoon affectionately called Prof.(Professor) Westervelt by thefaculty and students. The school opened on the corner ofSouth St. Paul Street (today South Avenue) and CourtStreets.

The First LocationThe block of four houses on Court Street were used as

living rooms by the older students and as classrooms by allstudents. A small wooden house was used for the kindergar-ten and a brick building in the back of the lot served as ahospital, laundry and servants’ rooms. Across Court Streetto the south was a vacant lot, which could be used as playspace for the students. When the School opened its firstyear, there were twenty students, but by the time the yearended there were 87. More space was certainly needed. Thefollowing year the School leased, from the city, the formerChildren’s Truant Home on St. Paul Street. The locationoffered good accessibility with 826 feet of frontage onto St.Paul Street. It was once owned by Caleb Lyon and hispartners at the earlysettlement of Carthage.The property had aspectacular view of theGenesee River gorge,and fishing and canoe-ing became popularwith the residents of theschool. Included on themore than seven acresof property was a largebrick building used bythe city for truantchildren, another brickbuilding, a barn and theold Railroad and Steam-ship House that oncecatered to weary steam Anne Sullivan and Helen Keller

98

boat and stage travelers. The oldtavern had been built on RidgeRoad above the river in 1817, butwhen the railroad diverted trafficand the Landing was less fre-quented, the tavern was moved toSt. Paul Street where it became atwo-story home for the superinten-dent of the Truant Home. When theschool relocated to St. Paul Street,Professor Westervelt used thebuilding as living quarters for thedomestic help and built a laundry in the basement.

For a short time the older boys resided on St. Paul Streetat “The Annex,” as it was called, while the remainder of thestudents stayed at “Number 70” on Court Street. In 1878 theentire student body was moved to the new location. Thenew property worked well for the children who then hadroom to play in the open fields. Across the river in the gorge

was the summer hotel “GlenHouse” where steamers and a boatlivery kept the river life active. Thecrashing of the falls was the onlysound that broke through thetranquility of the river’s edge atthe end of the 19th century.

In July of 1881 a small fire at theschool spread from a pile of woodshavings to the carpenter shop,destroying it along with theprinting, paint and plumbingshops. It also destroyed the rearportion of the main buildingwhere the schoolrooms, large

dining hall and boys bedrooms were located. These build-ings were all rebuilt during the summer and fall of 1881.Only half of the $10,000 damage was covered by insurancealthough $40,000 was spent for repairs and improvements.In 1882, a large two-story brick building was erected for theuse of the kindergarten children. On the ground floor were

Harriet E. Hamilton

Rosa H. Halpern

five large classrooms and two playrooms. On the secondfloor were two dormitories with the boys on one side andthe girls on the other. Bathrooms and two rooms for thesupervisors were located between the dormitories. Thestudents went to the dining room in the main building fortheir meals with the senior pupils. Meals were served familystyle with older students at each table to help the youngerchildren learn the rules and manners of eating with others.A building used for classes for older students was also built

Perkins Hall, Rochester School for the Deaf ’s main building and the oldSteamboat Tavern standing next to it.

Below is a close-up of the old Steamboat Tavern.

1110

around1882. Thisschoolbuildingwas notsuitable forclass workduringsevere coldweatherhoweverand aftertwo yearsthe carpen-

try boys pulled off the siding, lined the walls with sheathingpaper and put the siding back.

Mr. Diemer, school engineer, installed the heating systemthroughout the building. He later managed the farm onNorton Street. In 1888 the city bought much of theriverfront property where Maplewood and Seneca Parks arelocated today. The Western New York Institution for DeafMutes purchased the school property from the city in 1888.Around that time Prof. Westervelt also purchased a farm atthe corner of Norton Street and Beach Street. The farm wasclose enough for the students to walk to and they especiallyenjoyed picking the grapes and other fruit. A group of boyscalled “the farm boys” were trained by Mr. Diemer inpractical farming methods that they could use when theywere no longer in school and working on other farms. Overthe years asparagus, lima beans, lettuce, parsnips, beets,cabbage, apples, pears and crab apples were grown. Oneyear 2300 lbs. of grapes were harvested. All of these prod-ucts were put to good use in the kitchen and enjoyed at thethree meals a day at the school. In addition there werebeehives and a smokehouse for curing hams. The childrenlearned to care for the cows, pigs, guinea hens and chickenson the farm. A house on the farm was used to isolate chil-dren with communicable diseases. There were also tworooms in the main building on St. Paul Street for use incases of light ailments and injuries. As the city of Rochestergrew, closing in the farm, it was sold.

The Girls’ Dormitory

CommunicationMost of the students arrived the first year from other

schools where sign language was their primary communica-tion. The Western New York Institution for Deaf Mutes feltstrongly that every deaf child should learn to speak. Thefirst annual report stated that “our teachers have an impres-sion, amounting almost to a conviction, that of two youngpeople, equal in mental ability, the one who has neverspoken can be taught to speak more correctly than one whoretains a partial and imperfect memory of language.

“Because signing was the best method with which toteach, the School adopted and taught signing and lip read-ing as the Combined Method. The School adopted the De I’Epée gesture language combining speech and the signedwords. In 1878 at the Convention of Educators of the Deaf

Boys in the garden.

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at Columbus Ohio,Dr. Isaac Lewis Peet,Principal of the NewYork Institute pre-sented a paper inwhich he suggestedthe elimination ofgesture signs fromfamily life. All schoolclasses were to useinstead manuallyspelled English. Thiswas the first time thatgesture was to beeliminated frominstruction.

Teaching spokenEnglish to the deafwas a grand experi-ment. Prof. Westerveltadopted it at theSchool. Dr. Peetwished Prof.Westervelt God-speedin his attempt toelevate the level oflanguage of all deaf-mutes through new methods. KnowingProf. Westervelt personally, he expressed confidence that hisattempt would either be successful or in a reasonable time,he would report the results and return to the old methods.

The conviction was a bold one. Prof. Westervelt reasonedthat if access to the mind could be achieved, the deaf stu-dents could reach new levels of accomplishment. Eight yearslater, in 1886, Prof. Westervelt presented the results of theexperiment at the convention in California. He reportedthat only finger spelling and speech were used at the school.Only students who habitually used gestures were called tothe Superintendent’s office to be shown how to say the samesentences using finger spelling as required. New studentshad fewer gestures to unlearn so they rapidly adapted to

finger spelling.Every facultymember andemployee wasexpected to useEnglish – spelled,spoken and written.When Prof.Westervelt’s ownfour year oldadopted son waskept from hiskindergarten classin the city oneharsh winter, hequickly learned tocommunicate withthe deaf children atthe school, showingthat deaf andhearing studentscould integratequite well withfinger spelling. Themanual alphabethelped students

learn the written language more quickly. It also provided anincentive for young students to read the School’s daily papercalled “Daily Paper for Our Little People”. Students couldread about each other and themselves. Publications in thelibrary informed the students about the world outside ofthe School. Teachers did not only instruct the students inthe classroom, they also went for walks in the neighborhoodand parks. Older students traveled in pairs on streetcars toshop downtown or to attend museums. As much as a thirdof the classroom instruction was speech and lip reading. Afew students resisted learning speech so much that afteryears, their speech instruction was discontinued. Most,however, learned that speech was the most beneficial com-munication between hearing and deaf students.

The Rochester School for the Deaf, present location on St. Paul Street.

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Buoyedby thesuccess ofa femalestudent,whosespeechand lipreadingwere sogood thatshegraduatedto afemale

seminary with hearing students, the School launched anexperiment to teach primary grades by speech alone.Progress was slower than for those taught using the manualalphabet so the all-speech method was abandoned. Consis-tent with the failure of this experiment was the report of thestudent who returned from the female seminary to say thatshe succeeded in early studies; but found lessons increas-ingly difficult with unfamiliar material. The manual alpha-bet proved to be a better method, particularly for under

Students in class.

Outdoor drawing class.

standing new vocabulary and subjects. The University ofRochester, in 1895, conferred upon Mr. Westervelt thedegree of Doctor of Laws, in recognition of his high attain-ments and service along educational lines.

The Lyon Phonetic MethodEdmund Lyon, a friend of the Perkins family, was in-

tensely interested in promoting the teaching of speech tothe deaf. He worked for months on a method of symboliz-ing speech sounds by hand movements. If sounds could becommunicated to a deaf person by means of a phonetichand alphabet, the student would be able to vocalize moreaccurately, and their speech would improve. The handposition would indicate what lip and tongue movementswere required to produce a sound. Dr. Westervelt encour-aged Mr. Lyon to test his method in the classroom at theschool. Though there were over a hundred different posi-tions Mr. Lyon worked to complete his manual in time toteach the School’s students in the Fall of 1890.

Harriet Hamilton, one of the first four teachers at theschool, reported that after several months of instruction,the students were speaking from his manual too quickly for

A speech class.

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Mr. Lyon himself to follow their conversation. In thewinter of 1891 Mr. Lyon met Alexander Graham Bell, whoseinvention of the telephone was an effort to help his deafwife. Dr. Westervelt invited Mr. Lyon and Dr. Bell to theSchool. Dr. Bell told Mr. Lyon he should present his LyonPhonetic Method at the American Association To Promotethe Teaching of Speech to the Deaf at their next meeting inNew York City. The 150 Association members applaudedand requested copies of the manual. Alexander Graham Belltold the audience that several people had attempted tocreate a manual alphabet of visible speech, including hisfather and himself. He said Lyon’s system was ingenious - adeaf child could see his incorrect sounds just like a hearingchild could hear mispronounced words. Students weretaught sounds to join together to create words and sen-tences. Students became confident and graceful in theirlanguage and entertained audiences with music and recita-tions. In what might be the first introduction of the elec-tronic hearing aid, Stromberg-Carlson developed an audi-tory stimulator, similar to a telephone, and used it in theRochester School classrooms in 1906.

Helen Keller, possibly the most well-known deaf personin America, came to Rochester with Alexander Graham Bell

Preparing Thanksgiving Dinner with some of the school’s own harvest.

and visited theschool in Marchof 1893. AnneSullivan, Helen’scompanion andteacher, waseager to meetHarrietHamiltonwhom Dr. Bellhad said “as ateacher ofarticulation, and one rooted in the science of phonetics andthe psychology of speech, ranked among the very first”. MissKeller also visited the school in 1926 and again on May 26,1941 to attend the dedication of a new academic buildingon the campus.

New LeadershipAfter forty-two years as superintendent, Zenas Westervelt

died on February 17, 1918. At his funeral, Rev. J.W.A.Stewart said that anyone who attended the Western NewYork Institution for Deaf Mutes felt it was more of a homethan an institution. “Dr. Westervelt made it home; he wasthe center, the inspirer of it all,” he said. He created anatmosphere of happiness that has stayed with the School. A

century and aquarter later,his observationis still true.

On therecommenda-tion ofAlexanderGraham Bell,Thomas CarlawForrester was

Playing games.

Recreation on theGenesee River.

1918

hired as Superintendent. He served from 1918 to 1942 Dr.Forrester had twenty-five years of experience teaching atschools for the deaf in Scotland, Ireland, Canada and theUnited States. He was the Superintendent of the MarylandSchool for the Deaf prior to coming to Rochester. Hisexperience as accountant and manager with a West IndiaCompany gave him the skills he needed to guide the School,renamed the Rochester School for the Deaf in 1920,through the tight financial years following World I and theGreat Depression.

During Forrester’s tenure new buildings were con-structed. On June 12, 1931 a residence for the older boyswas built. Robert Willis, a neighbor of a member of the RSDBoard of Directors, Judge Arthur Sutherland, asked JudgeSutherland if he knew of a worthy institution to receive abequest. Judge Sutherland suggested the School and Mr.Willis later named RSD in his will. Asked that a dormitorybe build as a memorial to his parents, Isaac Willis and MaryHicks Seaman Willis. Despite the Depression, CarolynHamilton Talcott Lyon, who had been a former teacher andsecretary to Dr. Westervelt, donated the money for a girlsresidence as a memorial to her husband, Dr. Edmund Lyonand Aunt, Miss Harriet Hamilton, one of the originalteachers at the school. In later years, Dr. Alexander GrahamBell referred to Miss Hamilton as “a leading authority in theteaching of speech to the deaf”. The 1931 building wasfurnished by Mr. & Mrs. Lyon’s daughters, Mrs. JohnVanVoorhis, Mrs. Francis Remington, and Mrs. J. HowardKidd, all of whom were RSD Board members. In the base-ment of Lyon Hall, Mrs. Lyon’s sister, Mrs. W. Chapin,donated a domestic science department completelyequipped with new stoves, domestic science utensils anddishes for the cooking classes to use in serving luncheons.

Mr. & Mrs. Lyon held their wedding reception at theschool and went to visit the children in the dining roomwhere wedding cake was served to all the students. On thatoccasion Mrs. Lyon stated “We shall stand by the school aslong as there is a school to stand by”. More than a centurylater Founding Families like Allis (Mrs. Louis) D’Amanda,Gilman perkins and his daughter Rebecca Wilson, still

support and serve on the Board. A new wing was added tothe primary building in 1937 and the academic buildingwith an auditorium and gymnasium was finished in 1941.Dr. Forrester retired to Canada in 1943 where he died in1945.

On Dr. Forrester’s retirement, James H. Galloway, ateacher Dr. Forrester had hired himself at the beginning ofthe Depression, succeeded him. He trained in music at theUniversity of Rochester and the Eastman School of Music;but finding it difficult to obtain a position, he accepted ajob offered by Dr. Forrester. Committed to the field of deafeducation, he left the School in Rochester to do graduatework at Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C., NiagaraUniversity, the University of Rochester and Louisiana StateUniversity. He worked at the New Jersey School for the Deafand the Louisiana State School for the Deaf before beingcalled on to succeed the man who redirected his career frommusic to deaf education. Dr. Galloway reviewed the Roches-ter School’s structure following wartime scarcities anddetermined the needs of each department, gave themgreater independence, and hired additional staff including afuture superintendent, Leonard G. Zwick.

In 1952 Dr. Galloway and the Rochester School for theDeaf Board determined that the School required expansionto accommodate the increasing number of students. A longrange building plan was developed including a preschoolbuilding erected in 1962. A former board member, Mrs.Gormly left a bequest for a building in memory of herparents, Mr. & Mrs. Nehemiah Denton. The preschool wasnamed Denton Hall. A vocational wing was added to theeducation building. Dr. Galloway organized the New YorkState Association of Educators of the Deaf (NYSAED). Heplayed a major role in the selection of Dr. Ralph L. Hoagwho became the School’s fourth superintendent in 1966when Dr. Galloway retired.

Dr. Hoag completed building projects begun under Dr.Galloway including a dormitory with smaller, more person-alized living units for preschool children, later namedGalloway Hall. Dr. Hoag came to Rochester after experienceas Course Director at the School For the Deaf in Rome, NY;Principal of the School for the Deaf and Blind in Tucson,

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Arizona; administrator of a program for training teachersof the deaf for the U.S. Office of Education and Staff Direc-tor and Executive Secretary to the National Advisory Boardthat established the National Technical Institute for theDeaf (NTID) in Rochester. Continuing the long rangebuilding plans, Dr. Hoag oversaw a three story addition tothe school building, including a learning resource center, anauditorium and a swimming pool. Completed in 1976, thebuilding was then dedicated as Westervelt Hall. A dininghall/infirmary building was also built in l976 and namedForrester Hall. Dr. Hoag instituted an occupational trainingprogram in cooperation with BOCES to prepare studentsfor occupations not being taught on campus. Studentsstudied carpentry, food service, electronics, car repair,machine tool work, drafting, mechanical drawing, commer-cial art, clothing design or business machines. He andPrincipal Zwick developed Advanced Placement courses offcampus for senior students. Dr. Hoag left the School in 1974to become the Superintendent of the Arizona School for theDeaf and Blind in Tucson.

Leonard G. Zwick succeeded Dr. Hoag in l974. He hadworked for seventeen years as teacher, guidance counselor,the school’s first audiologist and Principal. He did his

Children playing in the yard. Note the faces pressed to the window andthe little drummer boy on the right.

undergraduate work at State University College at Buffaloafter serving in the U.S. Navy Air Corps. Earning a Mastersdegree in education from the University of Buffalo, hestudied at Northwestern University and earned an M.A. inadministration and supervision at California State Univer-sity at Northridge, California. Superintendent Zwickworked with the University of Rochester to develop career

Studying the planets in science class.

In carpentry class.

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guidance materials for deaf high school students. He andDr. Hoag worked with the State University at Geneseo todevelop training programs for teachers of deaf students. Mr.Zwick was influential in bringing many new projects andprograms to the school such as the Center for Communica-tion Research, the National Captioned Films for the DeafSelection Program, a Day Care program for the children ofstaff and others, and a joint program with the HillsideChildren’s Center for those deaf children with very specialneeds. This program continues to be a model today.

Mr. Zwick retired in 1990, but he and his wife, Pat, con-tinue to work with the School as volunteers. In 1990 Dr.Harold Mowl became the sixth superintendent of the schooland its first deaf leader. His challenges included the newtechnologies that have changed the way deaf childrencommunicate; including e-mail and computerized light andsound labs that help students to speak and identify soundsas well as medical advances that allow cochlear implants.

Thomas Carlaw

Leonard G. Zwick

Dr. Ralph L. Hoag

Dr. Harold Mowl

AcknowledgementsThis manuscript was written with the research assistance,

notes, comments and advisements of Frank A. Kruppenbacher,Vicki Hurwitz and Colleen Pouliot of Rochester Institute ofTechnology, Dr. Harry Lang of the National Technical Insti-tute for the Deaf, Deirdre Schlehofer of the University ofRochester, Winford McChord of St. Mary’s School for the Deafin Buffalo and Mary Mowl, Allis D’Amanda, Peter Simpkinsand Pat Zwick of the Rochester School for the Deaf ArchivesCenter and one anonymous benefactor.

A speech lesson in the 1960’s.

Back Cover: “No. 70,” corner of South Avenue and Court Street, the school’soriginal location from 1876 to 1878.