Kentucky School for the Deaf

Story

The Kentucky School for the Deaf, located in Danville, Kentucky, United States, is a school that provides education to deaf and hard-of-hearing children from elementary through high school levels.HistoryKSD was established as the Kentucky Asylum for the Tuition of the Deaf and Dumb on April 10, 1823. It was the first state-supported school of its kind in the United States and the first school for the deaf west of the Allegheny Mountains. The deaf were a special concern of General Elias Barbee, a Kentucky state senator, whose daughter was deaf. In 1822, Barbee and John Rowan wrote legislation authorizing the creation of the school. On December 7, 1822 it was signed into law by Kentucky Governor John Adair. With the help of Henry Clay, KSD received two federal land grants in 1826 and 1836. This land in Florida and Arkansas was eventually sold to finance the construction of school facilities.In the early years it was thought that the Kentucky school might be able to meet the educational needs of all deaf people in the southern and western United States. Pupils from all the southern states except Florida, and from as far away as Montana, attended KSD. Eventually, other states established their own schools for deaf students.GovernanceThe Centre College Board of Trustees operated the school until 1870. It was then governed by its own board of commissioners. Since 1960, the Kentucky Board of Education and Department of Education have governed the school.