A Legacy Built by Land: The Texas School for the Deaf
As a result of maintaining control over its own public domain, Texas and its citizens possess many unique advantages. One such benefit is a system of eleemosynary [2] institutions that were historically funded by the sale of public land. One such institution, the Texas School for the Deaf, has impacted the lives of thousands of Texans over the years. Situated between South Congress Avenue and South First Street in Austin, the Texas School for the Deaf is an enduring example of the connection between education and the public lands of Texas.
On August 26, 1856, the Sixth Legislature of Texas passed “An Act to establish an Institution for the education of the Deaf and Dumb,” and allocated $10,000 for its founding in Austin.[3] This institution, now known as the Texas School for the Deaf, first opened its doors on January 2, 1857. Serving only a handful of students, the original facilities included a small cottage, three log cabins, and an old smokehouse.[4] A former student described the early schoolhouse as “very small … the walls were unfinished and black with smoke, and the floor was rough and black with grease. The yard was full of weeds and bushes, and no flowers were around the houses.”[5]
On August 30, 1856, the Legislature passed “An Act setting aside and appropriating land for the benefit of Asylums,” which allocated 100,000 acres of land to each institution.[6] This included the archaically named Deaf and Dumb Asylum, Blind Asylum, Lunatic Asylum, and Orphan Asylum.[7] The Asylum Lands, as they are referred to in GLO records, were surveyed in Callahan, Comanche, Eastland, Jones, Shackelford, Stephens, Taylor, and Tom Green counties, and eventually amounted to roughly 410,000 acres, some of which included land that had previously been set aside as Indian reservations prior to the removal of native tribes in 1859.[8]
The search for a permanent location for the school was ordered with the aid of a $7,500 allocation from the Legislature on February 5, 1858.[9] It was eventually located on a 67.5-acre tract about two miles south of the modern Capitol building. This relatively remote site, which was south of the Colorado River (and would not formally be a part of the city of Austin until 1891 when a new city charter was introduced), greatly improved upon the school’s previous amenities. Remaining in that location to this day, the Texas School for the Deaf is the oldest continually operating institution of public education in Texas. It has impacted the lives of thousands of members of the deaf community over its nearly 159 years of existence.[10]
Since its early days as a republic, Texas has used its abundant land resources to help fund public education. Proceeds from state-owned lands and minerals are collected in the Permanent School Fund, which serves as a crucial source of investment income for the schoolchildren of Texas. The Deaf Asylum land was sold, and the proceeds were used to fund the operation of the school. The files resulting from the sale of these lands are maintained in the Archives of the General Land Office. Maps depicting the land allocated to benefit the eleemosynary institutions often refer to the lands specifically by their Asylum names.
The documents and maps that detail the history of the Asylum Lands program document the wisdom, foresight, and priorities of early Texas leaders. Understanding the value of utilizing Texas’ abundant land resources, they endowed a system of educational institutions for all Texans, a legacy that lives on today at the Texas School for the Deaf.
[1] John F. Hart Land Grant, 17 August 1878, University and Asylum Lands File 001358, Texas Land Grant Records, Archives and Records Program, Texas General Land Office, Austin, TX.
[2] Pronunciation: el-uh-mos-uh-ner-ee; Relating to, or supported by charity. In Texas, the eleemosynary institutions were originally referred to as asylums.
[3] H.P.N. Gammel (ed.). The Laws of Texas, 1822–1897 Volume 4, p. 476, 1898; (http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth6730/ : accessed February 23, 2015), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, http://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries, Denton, Texas.
[4] Vivian Elizabeth Smyrl, “Texas School for the Deaf,” Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/kct26), accessed February 23, 2015. Uploaded on June 15, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.
[5] Emily Lewis, “A Brief History of the Texas School for the Deaf.” Reprinted from the October 1, 1909 issue of The Lone Star, Texas School for the Deaf; (http://www.tsd.state.tx.us/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=173757&type=d&pREC_ID=359032 : accessed February 23, 2015), Texas School for the Deaf.
[6] Gammel, The Laws of Texas, p. 494.
[7] Modern names: Texas School for the Deaf, Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, Austin State Hospital, and the Corsicana State Home.
[8] Lang, Aldon Socrates. The Baylor Bulletin Vol. XXXV, Number 3, July, 1932, “Financial History of the Public Lands of Texas”. Reprint edition, New York: Arno Press, 1979. P. 138.
[9] Gammel, The Laws of Texas, p. 992.
[10] “Historical Perspective.” (http://www.tsd.state.tx.us/apps/pages/index.jsp?uREC_ID=173757&type=d&pREC_ID=372722 : accessed February 23, 2015), Texas School for the Deaf.
