CSDB: Celebrating 150 Years! (media copy)

On April 8, 1874, seven students sat in a classroom in a house in downtown Colorado Springs eagerly anticipating their first day at a new school.

The City of Colorado Springs was only a few years old, founded in 1871 by General William Jackson Palmer. Colorado wouldn’t become a state for two more years. Thanks to abundant sunshine and natural attractions, Colorado Springs was a destination for many people. This could be what drew a farmer from Kansas named Jonathan Kennedy, his wife Mary and their five children, three who were deaf, to Colorado in the early 1870s.

That first year, Major Henry McAllister, a colleague of General Palmer, donated a printing press. This allowed students to learn the printing trade by creating a newspaper. The first issue of The Deaf-Mute Index was printed on January 30, 1875. Later, the name changed to the Colorado Index. This is how we’ve learned so much about the history of the school. 

In 1876, the new three-story building was ready. It had 12 rooms with coal stoves and kerosene lamps. There were 20 students and part of the middle floor was set aside for classrooms. The campus had vegetable gardens, as well as a cow and a flock of 50 chickens who provided all the milk and eggs for the school.

When classes began on Sept. 12, 1883, there were four new students who were blind, and shortly thereafter six more joined. 

While many changes were taking place on this campus, dramatic shifts in everyday life were on the horizon all over the world. In 1882, the first commercial power plant opened in Manhattan, New York, and by 1886 Colorado Springs had electricity.[i] In August 1887, the school’s board signed a contract with El Paso Electric Company, which brought light to the building. It cost $700 for the year.

Another momentous occasion for the school took place on June 4, 1889, when three students, who were deaf, David H. Wolpert, Grace E. Young, and Paul D. Hubbard became the first graduates. 

Shortly after graduation, Paul Hubbard went to the National Deaf College, later Gallaudet University. He joined the football team and as quarterback is believed to have been the creator of the football huddle. Paul got the idea when he noticed players from the opposing team could see him signing the next play to his teammates. To prevent this, he called the team into a tight circle to give instructions. This method was adopted by other teams and eventually became common practice.

While core subjects continued to be important, there was also an emphasis on students learning a trade. In 1893, carpentry, shoemaking, printing, cabinetmaking, broom-making, mattress-making, and chair seating were options for the boys. Girls could learn dressmaking, needlework, hammock weaving, knitting, beadwork, and baking.
 

Students who were deaf might also have art lessons, while music was an important skill taught to students who were blind. 

For years, school leaders had requested a change in the name of the institute. It was important to them that it was clearly labeled a school, rather than an institution or asylum. The name officially became Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind in 1895. 

A year later, Hugh McCabe, Thomas Kavanagh, and Henry Ralston became the first three students who were blind to graduate.

Nikola Tesla, known as the master of electricity, arrived in 1899. By June, he had a lab on a hilltop a few blocks from the school near what is now Kiowa St. and Foote Ave, where he said he was researching wireless telegraphy. This photo shows CSDB in the background. When he wasn’t working, Tesla stayed at the Alta Vista Hotel downtown. People who saw him there recall how every day he would ride a horse-drawn wagon to his lab. Afraid of horses, he was always ready to jump out if needed. Every night around midnight he would walk back to town. Imagine, how often he passed so close to the school. In 1901, the Colorado Index noted, “We feel quite proud that the cosmic radio signals he receives from Mars come to a point so close to the school.”[ii] His lab was abandoned by 1904.

In 1903, a little bit further east, the school’s dairy formed near what is now Pikes Peak and Iowa Avenue. It provided plenty of fresh and delicious milk to the campus. According to a board report, two thirds of the students who had been drinking coffee switched to milk.[iii] Though, the dairy was ¾ of a mile away, students would visit and report what they saw in the Colorado Index.

At that time, students went to classes for five hours in the morning and worked in their trades for two hours every afternoon. New trades included gardening, dairying, painting, and rug weaving. All students studied standard school subjects. Students who were deaf had either manual or oral classes and students who were blind used the New York Point System,8 a tactile reading and writing system created in the 1860s. Although braille was invented in 1824, it wasn’t used here yet.

As evidence that CSDB was at the forefront in education, in 1904, 17-year-old Lottie Sullivan, the first student who was DeafBlind, Ralph Wooten, and their teacher, Bessie Veditz, participated in the St. Louis World’s Fair. For over two months, they demonstrated teaching methods for DeafBlind students in the education building and won gold medals. Lottie wrote an essay that appeared in the Colorado Springs Gazette, which says the machines were her favorite part. Innovations demonstrated for the first time included an X-ray machine, electric typewriter, and coffeemaker. 

While progress at the school remained steady, the world plunged into uncertainty in 1914 when World War I began in Europe. By early 1917 the United States had entered the war. The school planted a victory garden and students sewed items for the Red Cross and sold liberty bonds. 

On Nov. 11, 1918, the armistice, a formal agreement to stop fighting, was signed. That day at 1:40 a.m., a teenage Elsie Hodgkins woke her classmate Dorothy Clark to tell her there were whistles blowing in town. They ran to a bedroom where other girls were watching fireworks from the window. They jumped for joy, knowing the war was over. The next day, Dorothy describes a parade passing by. “We saw hundreds of soldiers marching and automobiles decorated with flags. We saw some kiddies beating on frying pans instead of drums. When we saw the men carrying flags, we saluted and clapped our hands.” Then, they had their own parade on campus. By remaining at the school for the parade Superintendent Argo hoped to protect everyone from the Spanish Flu pandemic, which began in 1918.

The famous silent horror film star Lon Chaney, the grandson of founder Jonathan Kennedy, was hearing and communicated with his deaf parents using sign language. This skill was credited with Chaney’s acting talent.  He went on to be known in Hollywood as “the man of a thousand faces.”   While Chaney is immortalized on film, his grandparents’ legacy can be seen today atop Kiowa Street Hill. 

In October 1929, the Great Depression began. People were out of work and severe drought caused dust storms across the plains. The CSDB motto was, “Learn by Doing,” and students learned through their trades. Young sewing students darned socks, while older students made aprons and gym clothes. Carpentry and painting students worked on building interiors and girls did the laundry. Boys who made brushes and brooms sold their products in town. Dressmaking and hat making were offered for girls.

On Dec. 7, 1941, the attack on Pearl Harbor Naval Base fueled the United States to enter World War II. Soon, students and staff experienced city-wide blackouts and purchased war bonds and defense stamps to help outfit service members. Throughout the war, government rations on food, paper, gasoline, and rubber impacted the school most. As the war continued, different items were rationed to ensure enough for everyone. In 1942, student John Gallemore writes, “On May 5th the pupils of our school had to be registered for sugar rationing. After filling out the blanks, a book containing twenty-eight stamps was given to the person. One pound of sugar can be purchased every two weeks with one stamp.” Citizens were also encouraged to plant Victory Gardens to provide a portion of fresh food for themselves. The school expanded its gardens and grew vegetables that would keep through the winter. The war lasted until 1945. 

Bambi Marcantonio, who was born blind, enrolled in 1936 when she was seven. Her father, an Italian immigrant, worked in coal mines near Frederick, Colorado. When she was six, she attended one day of public school, but the teacher didn’t know how to teach her, and she was denied attendance. Through another mine worker, Bambi’s father learned of CSDB.[iv] Bambi shares many early memories of school in her book, Dammi La Mano (Give me Your Hand).

She graduated in 1949, and after college, returned to CSDB where she taught for 30 years. One of her students, Rebecca (Cancino) Shields, remembers her as a good role model noting because she lived it, we believed it.[v] In 1984 after 25 years of friendship,[vi] Bambi married Nick Venetucci who had a farm outside of town. Among other vegetables, he grew pumpkins. He became well known for inviting children to the pumpkin patch every fall for a free pumpkin.

During this time, several new extracurricular activities were added including cheerleading and wrestling for students who were blind. Yearly gymnastics programs highlighted student skills, which they’d learned in gym class. Superintendent Brown taught square dancing to students who were Deaf, while students who were blind played music for the dances.

On March 22, 1950, 18-year-old Juan Cruz was enjoying recess outside with other students who were blind when he saw smoke rising from the school building. Juan, along with a couple of other boys, set off the fire alarms and began alerting students. Alumnus Frank Cancino, a teenager at the time, remembers Juan banging a gong to alert everyone. Thanks to regular fire drills, students calmly exited the building, then lined up outside.

When they looked back, the building was on fire. Students remember several boys going back inside to rescue paintings from the building, including one of General Palmer. In horror, students stood nearby to watch, until an explosion drove them further away. About a dozen fire trucks from across the city assisted, but the fire spread too quickly, and the building was lost. In addition, the school’s braille library and musical instruments were all destroyed. Frank Cancino remembers seeing the organ crash from the third floor to the basement. “I remember it was heartbreaking, just so much destruction.” It was later determined that an electrical short caused the blaze. Classes were held all around campus until the Gottlieb Building opened in 1952.

Perhaps you’ve visited the Uncle Wilber fountain in downtown Colorado Springs. Well, it turns out the principal in the School for the Blind when Adams opened was Wilber H. Fulker, the real-life uncle of the artist who made the fountain. He even played the tuba just like the character on top. He worked in the School for the Blind for nearly 20 years.

In 1971, track, football, and basketball star Gary Washington, who was deaf, competed in the junior Olympics in track. He was honored at the White House by President Nixon with the “Most Courageous Athlete” award. Gary has been honored by the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame, the Colorado Coaches Association, and the United States Deaf Sports Federation. In 1973, Gary went to the Deaflympics in Sweden where he won three gold and one silver medal in track events. He went on to play football at CU Boulder. In his final game, he had a 72-yard run for a touchdown. He was carried off the field on his teammates’ shoulders with a standing ovation from fans. 

With Gary Washington as running back, the football team had been Black Forest League champions twice. It wasn’t until 1977, however, that they went to the State Championship. 

Tim Elstad, class of 1978, remembers playing football every afternoon with his friends long before he was old enough to play for CSDB. By 1977, his senior year in high school, he was the quarterback for an undefeated team which went on to the State Championship game against Simla, which CSDB won, 22-16. The Gazette Telegraph chose Merle McAdow as Offensive Player of the Year. Coach Joe Sisneros was awarded Coach of the Year.

Goalball, a sport for the blind/visually impaired, was introduced to CSDB students in 1982, and became a school sport. Soon, CSDB was represented on Team USA in Paralympic Goalball. Team USA won the Silver Medal in Athens in 2004 and the Gold Medal in Beijing in 2008. 

in 1997, thirteen students were the first to enroll in an on-campus transition program that included independent-living dorms, career development, and the opportunity to attend classes at Pikes Peak Community College. This later became the Bridges to Life Program. 

The Deaf Academic Bowl began at Gallaudet University in 1996 as a regional competition. In 2004, the CSDB team qualified for the National Championship. Nine teams competed in the finals that year, and in colorful Hawaiian shirts CSDB came out victorious.

In 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic caused the school to close for a period and then remote learning began. Staff helped deliver devices to students’ homes across the state and dorm staff and teachers created activity videos for students to follow. That fall, a hybrid learning model began with some students in-person and others tuning in via Zoom. Various social distancing and mask policies were in place for much of 2021, until later in the year when safety precautions were lifted. 

Now, as CSDB celebrates 150 years and we look back on the resiliency, ingenuity, and legacy of those who came before us, it is our turn to write the next part of this story.