Miss-Delectable
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New Mexico School for the Deaf celebrates 125th anniversary - The Santa Fe New Mexican
Students and faculty at the New Mexico School for the Deaf celebrated its 125th anniversary on Wednesday with video presentations, poetry readings and a trivia game.
Lars and Belle Larson, a deaf couple, first started teaching deaf students in a small adobe house in Santa Fe in 1885.
On Aug. 25 of that year, a one-paragraph article appeared on an inside page of The Santa Fe New Mexican, saying, "Notice is hereby given to the public that there is a school for the education of the deaf and dumb of this territory to be located in Santa Fe, N.M., this fall. All the deaf and dumb living in this territory should receive an education, which will make them good and respected people. Parents and friends of the deaf and dumb wishing to apply for the education of their children to this school will please write to me at once for particulars. ... Lars M. Larson." "School for the Deaf and Dumb."
The term "dumb," to mean mute, was in common use at the time but has fallen out of favor today.
It wasn't until 1887 that the New Mexico Territorial Legislature officially established the New Mexico School for the Deaf in its site on Cerrillos Road and made an appropriation. This act made it the first public, constitutional school in the state.
By 1891, The New Mexican was lobbying for a "fair and decent provision" of $5,000 a year for the school because it's the "humane, useful and proper thing to do." Six of the school's 35 to 40 students "had to leave due to insufficiency of the funds wherewith to feed and clothe them," according to an article published on Jan. 13 of that year. "Their parents are too poor to pay for their schooling or their board."
By 1899, the newspaper was praising the Larsons for the institution they brought into existence. During a tour of the school with its trustees, The New Mexican quoted from a "speech" given in sign language by Jose B. Salazar, described as an "Indian deaf mute."
"Six years ago, I was sent by my dear mother to this school to receive an education," he said. "Before I came here, I did not know how to write nor what to read, and even did not know my own name nor the name of anything, and had no idea about language and about God and his wonderful works. ...
"(Lars Larson) has led me from ignorance to knowledge. Mrs. Larson has done many kind favors to transport, clothe and board me in this school. I wish to continue learning another term and will graduate here next term."
The K-12 School for the Deaf now has 120 students enrolled on campus, and preschool satellites in locations around the state reach another 50 students. It also has an outreach program that serves 270 students in 54 districts around the state.
In August, the school held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the renovated Connor Hall, built in 1928 and one of four buildings on campus listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Originally a boys' dormitory, the building named for a longtime superintendent is now a career and technical education center.
Students and faculty at the New Mexico School for the Deaf celebrated its 125th anniversary on Wednesday with video presentations, poetry readings and a trivia game.
Lars and Belle Larson, a deaf couple, first started teaching deaf students in a small adobe house in Santa Fe in 1885.
On Aug. 25 of that year, a one-paragraph article appeared on an inside page of The Santa Fe New Mexican, saying, "Notice is hereby given to the public that there is a school for the education of the deaf and dumb of this territory to be located in Santa Fe, N.M., this fall. All the deaf and dumb living in this territory should receive an education, which will make them good and respected people. Parents and friends of the deaf and dumb wishing to apply for the education of their children to this school will please write to me at once for particulars. ... Lars M. Larson." "School for the Deaf and Dumb."
The term "dumb," to mean mute, was in common use at the time but has fallen out of favor today.
It wasn't until 1887 that the New Mexico Territorial Legislature officially established the New Mexico School for the Deaf in its site on Cerrillos Road and made an appropriation. This act made it the first public, constitutional school in the state.
By 1891, The New Mexican was lobbying for a "fair and decent provision" of $5,000 a year for the school because it's the "humane, useful and proper thing to do." Six of the school's 35 to 40 students "had to leave due to insufficiency of the funds wherewith to feed and clothe them," according to an article published on Jan. 13 of that year. "Their parents are too poor to pay for their schooling or their board."
By 1899, the newspaper was praising the Larsons for the institution they brought into existence. During a tour of the school with its trustees, The New Mexican quoted from a "speech" given in sign language by Jose B. Salazar, described as an "Indian deaf mute."
"Six years ago, I was sent by my dear mother to this school to receive an education," he said. "Before I came here, I did not know how to write nor what to read, and even did not know my own name nor the name of anything, and had no idea about language and about God and his wonderful works. ...
"(Lars Larson) has led me from ignorance to knowledge. Mrs. Larson has done many kind favors to transport, clothe and board me in this school. I wish to continue learning another term and will graduate here next term."
The K-12 School for the Deaf now has 120 students enrolled on campus, and preschool satellites in locations around the state reach another 50 students. It also has an outreach program that serves 270 students in 54 districts around the state.
In August, the school held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the renovated Connor Hall, built in 1928 and one of four buildings on campus listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Originally a boys' dormitory, the building named for a longtime superintendent is now a career and technical education center.
Someday I will go back and visit the school again. Yep, it is on Cerrilos Road, all right. 