Minnesota State Academy for the Blind

Minnesota State Academy for the Blind
Minnesota Academy for the Blind main entrance on State Highway 298
Address
400 6th Ave SE Faribault, Minnesota Faribault , Rice , Minnesota 55021 United States
Information
Type	Public
Established	1866
School district	160
Superintendent	Terry Wilding
Director	John Davis
Faculty	12
Grades	K - 12+
Age range	Birth to 21
Enrollment	45
Color(s)	Maroon and Gold
Athletics	Goalball, Wrestling, Swimming, Track and Field.
Newspaper	Chronicles
Website	Minnesota State Academy for the Blind Website

Minnesota State Academy for the Blind (MSAB) (formerly known as the Braille and Sight Saving School) is a public school in Faribault, Minnesota, United States. Its mission is the education and life education of blind, visually impaired, and deaf-blind learners from birth to age 21. The school has a residential option program and provides 24-hour programming including Braille, independent travel, assistive technologies, and individualized educational services. Students often have multiple disabilities and come from all regions of the state.

Building formerly occupied by the Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library.

The Minnesota Legislature established it in 1866, together with the nearby Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf, which was established three years earlier (1863).

Blind Department Building and Dow Hall at the State Academy for the Blind are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Other facilities include Lysen Hall.

It has dormitory facilities for students. The campus spans 21 acres.

Early History

Overview

"The Minnesota State Academy for the Blind was founded in the southern Minnesota town of Faribault in 1866. Since that time, the institution has continually adapted its facilities in response to changes in educational philosophy and student population. Initially a division of the Minnesota Institute for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, the school occupied a series of temporary quarters until moving into a structure erected for its use, the Blind Department Building (HABS No. 161-A), in 1874. The next year, James J. Dow became the school's principal and, in 1879, its superintendent. During his long tenure, which continued until 1920, Dow initiated a variety of programs to provide the blind with vocational, as well as academic, training. He also oversaw expansion of the school's physical plant, including the construction in 1883 of the campus's dominant building (HABS No. 161-B), which was later named in his honor. The structure was enlarged in 1895 and again between 1914 and 1917. The latter renovation, planned by state architect Clarence Johnston, transformed the building's style from Second Empire to Georgian Revival. To make way for a north addition, the Blind Department Building, which had served as a wing of the hall, was relocated. Although both buildings continued to house a variety of activities in the following decades, their functions were gradually usurped by new buildings on campus. At the same time, national education policy began discouraging residential programs for the disabled in favor of "mainstreaming," which reduced the school's population. By the late twentieth century, the school had concluded that Dow Hall and the Blind Department Building were functionally and structurally obsolete and should be demolished."

See also

• Minnesota State Academies
• Blind Department Building and Dow Hall, State School for the Blind

External links

• Official Web site
• Placeography article on Minnesota State Academy for the Blind (Minnesota Historical Society wiki)
• Minnesota Braille and Talking Book Library