Michigan School for the Blind/Administration Building
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S5280ft
N 42° 44.836 W 084° 33.642
16T E 699641 N 4735635
The marker is located inside the east entrance where East Grand River Avenue dead-ends into Pine Street. Streetside parking available.
Waymark Code: WMZ3E
Location: Michigan, United States
Date Posted: 11/19/2006
Views: 8
MICHIGAN SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND Michigan began educating the blind in 1859 at Flint's Michigan Asylum. In 1879 the legislature established the Michigan School for the Blind, which opened here on September 29, 1880, with thirty-five students. The next year, five students were its first graduates. At first, students learned by lecture/demonstration, but in 1884-85 the school introduced braille reading and writing. The first deaf/blind student was enrolled in 1887. By the 1950s the school boasted its largest enrollment, three hundred children in kindergarten through grade twelve. Student activities have included music, drama and track. In 1961 and 1963 student wrestlers won class B state championships.
ADMINISTRATION BUILDING In 1880 the Michigan School for the Blind moved from Flint to this site, the former home of the Michigan Female College and the Institute for Oddfellows. This structure, often called Old Main, has served as the focal point of the forty-acre campus of the Michigan School for the Blind. The monumental, three-story Neo-Classical Revival-style building was designed by Edwyn A. Bowd (1865-1940) of Lansing. It originally housed the entire student body and school offices. Enlarged and remodeled several times, the E-shaped brick and limestone structure retains its architectural beauty.
Historical Date: 09/29/1880
Parking nearby?: yes
D/T ratings: 
website: [Web Link]
Registered Site #: State Site #575
Historical Name: Not listed
Description: Not listed
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