Deaf and Dumb Asylum—Lunatic Asylum—Blind Asylum—Idiot Asylum.

ON the 38th [sic.] of January, 1827, an act was passed to "establish and Asylum for the education of deaf and dumb persons," and Hon. Gustavus Swan and Rev. James Hoge, of Franklin, Hon. Thomas Ewing, of Fairfield, Rev. William Graham, of Ross, Rev. William Burton, of Pickaway, John James, Esq., of Champaign, Wm. D. Webb, of Trumbull, and Sampson Mason, Esq., of Clark, were appointed by said act, together with the Governor, who was, ex officio, President of the Board, the first Trustees.

They procured the services of H. N. Hubbell, Esq., to take charge of the school, which opened on the 16th of November, 1829, and at first consisted of only three pupils. At the close of the term, July, 1830, the number

had reached nine, and it soon after filled up to the number of twenty or thirty. A son of Captain George W. Williams and a son of Judge Flenniken were among the first.

For some two or three years the school was kept in a rented room—part of the time on the lot now occupied by Dr. Gay, on Front street, north of Broad. Mr. Hubbell was then a young man, and had been engaged for some time in teaching a common school in Columbus, but had, during the agitation of this asylum enterprise, left his school and gone to the East and spent some eighteen months at the American Asylum, Hartford, Connecticut, qualifying himself for a teacher of the language of signs, in which he succeeded admirably; and he made both an efficient teacher and a popular Superintendent.*

In the years 1833 and 1834, the original part of the present asylum buildings was erected, and the institution removed thither. The building has been several times enlarged, and the number of pupils has increased with the capacity of the building to accommodate them. For the last few years the number has generally ranged at from one hundred and fifty to one hundred and sixty.

*Mr. Hubbell died in Columbus in January, 1857. [Buried at Green Lawn Cemetery.]

Horatio N. Hubbell, appointed 1829 — retired 1851.
Rev. J. Addison Cary, appointed 1851 — retired 1852.
Rev. Collins Stone, appointed 1852 (still in office.)

Dr. Robert Thompson, appointed 1833 — retired 1857.
Dr. S. M. Smith, appointed 1857.

George Gobey, Samuel Cutler, N. W. Smith, Isaac H. Roston, Hiram Weaver, Geo. W. Wakefield,

appointed " " " " "

1843 1846 1852 1852 1854 1856

— retired in " " — died in    " (Still in office.)

1846. 1852. 1852. 1854. 1856.

Names.	Occupations.	Salaries.
Rev. Collins Stone, Roswell H. Kinney, William E. Tyler, John M. Francis, Geo. L. Weed, jr., Benj. Talbott Danforth E. Ball,*	Superintendent, Instructor, " " " " "	$1,200   1,000      900      800      800      700      800

Names.	Occupations.	Salaries.
Fisher A. Spofford, Plumb M. Park, Robert Thompson, Geo. W. Wakefield, M. J. Westervelt, Mary Swan	Instructor,        " Physician, Steward Matron Assistant Matron	800      800      200      500      300      200

And about a dozen others, male and female, receiving monthly or weekly wages.

At the Legislative session of 1834-5, an act was passed to establish a Lunatic Asylum for the State of Ohio, and Dr. Samuel Parsons and Dr. William M. Awl, of Columbus, and Gen. Samuel F. McCracken, of Lancaster, were appointed Directors under the law for the erection, etc., of the necessary buildings. And on the 30 of November, 1838, the buildings were so far completed as to admit the first patient.

Pursuant to an act of the 13th of March, 1838, Dr. Samuel Parsons, Col. Samuel Spangler, Adin G. Hibbs, Esq., N. H. Swayne, Esq., and Dr. David L. McGugin, were appointed Directors, whose duty it was to appoint a Superintendent, etc., and Dr. Wm. M. Awl received the appointment.

In the years 1844, 1845 and 1846, the additional wings to the building were erected and completed. Dr. Awl, in his report of December 1, 1846, thus describes the whole structure:

"It is a stupendous pile of brick and stone work, which presents an imposing appearance. The structure faces the south. It is a quadrangular, and measures 376 feet in front, by 218 feet in depth. The buildings cover just one acre of ground, and enclose an area of 1864 square yards. The main center building is three stories and an attic in height above the basement. The wings and new buildings are each three stories; and a walk through all its different passages and galleries exceeds one mile. It contains rising 5,200,000 bricks, and something like 50,000 feet of cut stone. The entire cost to the State was about $150,000, including the amount of work done by the convicts of the Ohio Penitentiary, which constituted a large item in the account."

SUCCESSIVE SUPERINTENDENTS.

Dr. Wm. M. Awl,   "  Samuel H. Smith,   "  E. Kendrick,   "  Geo. E. Eels,   "  R. Hills

appointed in " " " "

1838 1850 1852 1854 1856.

— retired, " " "

1850. 1852. 1854. 1856.

ASSISTANT PHYSICIANS.

Dr. D. Chambers, jr.,   "  S. M. Smith,   "  R. J. Patterson,   "  R. C. Hopkins,   "  S. Willey,   "  O. C. Kendrick,   "  A. McElwee,   "  L. Ely

appointed in " " " " " " "

1838 1840 1843 1848 1850 1852 1854 1856.

— retired " " " " " "

1840.

Various other medical gentlemen have held situations at the institution, generally denominated junior assistants, amongst whom were Robert H. Awl, T. P. McCullough, Joseph Sherborn, C. R. Price, C. Disney, Wm. R. Thrall, and R. Gundry.

STEWARDS.

Geo. S. Fullerton, B. B. Brown, Jonathan Ream, L. A. Curtis, W. T. Criss, C. A. Barker,

appointed, " " " " "

1838 1849 1851 1852 1853 1856.

— retired in " " — died in    — retired in

1849. 1851. 1852. 1853. 1856.

BLIND ASYLUM.

This Institution was established by and act of the Legislature, passed at the session of 1836-37. The

Rev. Dr. Hoge, N. H. Swayne, Esq., and Dr. Wm. M. Awl, were appointed the first Board of Trustees, to carry the provisions of the law for organizing and opening the school, into effect. They first secured the services of Mr. A. W. Penniman as a teacher, and rented rooms in the Eight Buildings, so called, on Town street, west of High; and in July 1837, the school was opened. It contained at first but five scholars, but they increased during the year to eleven. Measures were then soon taken to obtain a suitable site and buildings for the permanent location of the Institution; and the citizens of Columbus purchased and donated for that purpose the site, consisting of nine acres for land, about one mile east of High street, on which the Institution was established; and the main building was erected in 1838 and '39, at a cost of about $28,000, including furniture, fixtures, etc., and was first occupied in October, 1839, with seventeen pupils. The following year, the number increased to thirty-six, and the next year to fifty. Since which the number has generally ranged from fifty to seventy.

SUCCESSIVE SUPERINTENTENTS

A. W. Penniman, appointed July, 1837 — retired in 1840.
William Chapin, appointed in — retired in 1846.

A. W. Penniman, again, in 1846 — retired in 1848.
Geo. McMillen, appointed in 1848 — died in 1852.

R. E. Harte, Dr. Asa D. Lord

appointed in "

1852 1856.

— retired in 1856.

Dr. Wm. M. Awl, being one of the Trustees, for a time prescribed as physician.
Dr. N. M. Miller.
Dr. S. Parsons.

Dr. R. L. Howard, Dr. John Dawson, Dr. R. J. Patterson,

appointed in " "

1844 1852 1856.

— retired in "

1852. 1856.

STEWARDS.

Mr. Isaac Dalton boarded the pupils, and served as steward from 1837 to 1840.
When Mr. Chapin came into office as superintendent, he boarded the pupils himself, and dispensed with a steward.

James W. Watson, Thomas F. Jones, David Holton, James Carlisle,

appointed in " " "

1846 1851 1852 1856.

— retired in " "

1851. 1852. 1855.

IDIOT ASYLUM.

This Institution was established by an act of the Legislature, passed April 17, 1857, entitled, "An act to establish an asylum for the education of idiots and imbecile youth." It is governed by a Board of three Trustees, appointed by the Governor. They organized in the spring of 1857, and procured and fitted up buildings on the national road, opposite the Blind Asylum, and opened their school there in the fall of the same year. On the first of November, the Trustees reported sixteen pupils already received; of whom seven pay wholly or in part, and nine have been received as State pupils.

The present officers of the Institution are —

Trustees — Hon. Wm. Dennison, jr., Columbus; Hon. Asher Cook, Perrysburg; N. S. Towsend, M. D., Avon.

Superintendent — R. J. Patterson, M. D.

Matron — Miss Emily Whitman.

Teacher — Miss Julia B. Burbank.