Oregon State School for the Blind - Salem, Oregon - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

"22. The STATE SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND (open 8-12 daily; 1:10-4:30 except Sat., Sun., and holidays), Church and Mission Sts., established 1872 in a private residence, has occupied the present quarters since 1892. It is conducted as a free boarding school for blind children, and its courses meet college entrance requirements." Excerpt from page 237: Oregon: End of the Trail, 1940

The Oregon School for the Blind served visually-impaired students in the State of Oregon for 135 years.

Established by an act of the Oregon Legislature in 1872, the school opened in the home of William Nesbitt, starting with two students, but increasing to five by the end of the first term. In October 1874, the school moved to a location on 13th street between Court and Chemeketa streets. Closing around 1879, the school re-opened in 1883 in a building on 12th street between Ferry and State, a location which later became the Salem's first hospital.

In 1894, the Oregon Deaf-Mute school moved to East Salem and the Oregon School for the Blind took over the property east of Church Street and north of Mission, remaining at this location for the next 115 years.

The boarding school educated students from all over the state, with enrollment reaching a high of 118 students in 1964. By the year 2000, enrollment had dropped to 52 and in 2009, the school's final year, there were 32 students.

During the final years of the school, fierce public debates raged over whether to continue the school or close it and assimilate the students into other schools. Critics charged that sending blind students away to one school was an anachronism that was both expensive and did not serve the students well in terms of integration into society. Proponents of keeping the school countered that local schools would fail to provide the kind of specialized instruction that blind students need and that often they assign individual aides to the students, making it more difficult for them to make friends with other children. Ultimately, budget issues won out and the school closed.

The campus contained eleven buildings when adjacent Salem Hospital purchased the property to allow for future hospital expansion. In January 2010, demolition of the buildings began. The photo gallery shows the site and some remaining buildings.

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