insane hospital
The Northern Hospital For The Insane, Logansport

Indiana
Prisons
and
Hospitals
For
The
Insane

Page 2
 		Indiana Prison
Indiana State Prison Michigan City
(picture drawn by an inmate)
Genealogy Trails

CHARITIES AND CORRECTION
    If there is any respect in which the founders of the government of Indiana are entitled to be credited with "vision," it is in the provision of the Constitution of 1816 for penal and charitable legislation. This was not specifically referred to any committee, but the Committee on Education, was directed to report on education, "and other subjects which it may be proper to enjoin or recommend to the Legislature to pro­vide for." In the exercise of this authority they reported Section 4, of Article 9, which is the only part of that Article that does not relate to education, as follows: "It shall be the duty of the General Assembly, as soon as circumstances will permit, to form a penal code founded on the principles of reformation, and not of vindictive justice; and also to. pro­vide one or more farms, to be an asylum for those persons who, by reason of age or infirmity or other misfortunes, may have a claim upon the aid and beneficence of society, on such principles that such persons may therein find employment and every reasonable comfort, and lose by their influence the degrading sense of dependence." It has been stated that, with the exception of the provision as to amendment, the constitution of 1816 "was taken in its entirety, both as regards substance and phrase­ology, from the Ohio Constitution of 1802 and the Kentucky Constitution of 1799." But no such provisions as are in this section, nor, indeed in this entire article, were in either of those constitutions, or in any other existing constitution. As constitutional provisions, they are original with Indiana, and in their basic principles they cover the accepted ideas of the latest theories of charity and punishment. As has been stated, this Article was written by Judge James Scott, but there is no record as to who made the suggestions. That as to State asylums for the poor might have been suggested by John Badollet  who was a member of the Commit­tee, as that cultured Swiss had a personal knowledge of the systems of older and more densely settled countries that none of the other members had; and of necessity, it is not possible to maintain in a sparsely settled country the charitable and correctional institutions which are the most convenient and practicable agencies for providing for the dependent and criminal classes in populous countries.

    As an extreme illustration, when Cain killed Abel, it might have been possible to hang him, but it would not have been possible to confine him in a penitentiary; and the only feasible punishment, that left him any opportunity for reform, was to expel him from the Garden of Eden. So, on the frontier, it is not practicable to adopt the most approved methods of dealing with many social problems; and some of the customs that we look back to now with a feeling that the people who maintained them must have been somewhat barbarous, were really due to the different con­ditions of population and wealth at that time. It is true that, in 1795, the legislature of Northwest Territory established a system of poor relief, under which the Court of Quarter Sessions appointed two overseers of the poor for each township, who were authorized, with the approval of two justices of the peace, to levy taxes for the support of the poor, part of which was to be used in "providing proper houses and places and a con­venient stock of hemp, flax, thread and other wares and stuff for setting to work such poor persons as apply for relief and are capable of work­ing and the rest to relieving those who were unable to work. But this was presumably for the benefit of the larger settlements of what is now Ohio. There is no indication that it was acted on in what is now Indiana, presumably because there was no township in this region that was able to maintain an almshouse; and, presumably, the duty was given to the State, by the Constitution, for the same reason. And it was probably because the law of 1795 was not generally practicable that the law of 1799 provided for "farming out" poor persons who were a public charge, or "selling them to the lowest bidder," i. e. contracting for their care with the persons who offered to maintain them at the lowest cost. The custo­dian had the right to require reasonable labor; and the overseers were to investigate any complaint of the pauper, and withhold compensation in case of ill treatment or insufficient provision. Theoretically this seemed the only way of caring for the dependent poor, under the circumstances; but it was evidently subject to abuse, and the Constitutional Convention wanted something better.

    But the relief was slow in coming. The State was in no condition financially to care for all the poor. It had no buildings of its own, of any kind. The State officers occupied rented quarters at Corydon, and the legislature met in the court house. At Indianapolis the situation was the same, until the State finally got the first real state capitol completed in 1835. The first move for a different system of care for the poor came from Knox County, apparently as an industrial enterprise, to some extent  at least. The legislature of 1821 authorized the voters of that county to elect three "directors of the poor," who were incorporated, and author­ized to hold lands, erect buildings, employ officials, bind out pauper chil­dren, etc. When the building for an asylum was completed, the over­seers were required to bring the poor of all the townships in the county to it. The Trustees of the Borough of Vincennes then adopted an ordi­nance, reciting that the location of the asylum near Vincennes would be "not only a great convenience to the paupers in obtaining the conven­iences of life and a ready sale for their surplus produce and manufac­tures, but add much to the improvement of the town and convenience of its inhabitants in procuring home manufactures," and therefore offered a donation of ten acres of the Commons, to secure the location at that point. This was accepted, and the asylum was duly built.3 The project does not appear to have been a success industrially, as the law was re­pealed in 1828; but the county commissioners were authorized to estab­lish similar asylums in Clark County in 1824; Washington, Dearborn and Floyd in 1829; and Harrison, Wayne and Jefferson in 1830. Mean­while there was a growing sentiment against the farming out system. Governor Bay took a decided stand against it in his message of 1825. After calling attention to the failure to act under the provision of the Constitution, he said:

    Few things are better calculated to ensure us that honourable eleva­tion to which our young state aspires, than for the world to witness the representatives of our free population, in the exercise of their high func­tions, engaged in laying a foundation that will guarantee comfort and happiness to the unfortunate poor. It is the poor and needy that can justly claim more of our deliberations than the affluent, whose wealth sets legislative interposition at defiance. Viewing the construction of an Asylum or Asylums, as institutions, in which the citizens of all the states by some unhappy accident may be doomed to participate; and as there is yet, within our limits immense tracts of waste lands belonging to Con­gress, we ought not to suppose that an application to that body for a small tract of land to aid this philanthropic design, would be unsuccessful. The existing law for the support of the poor, though perhaps as good as any that could be devised under the existing system is radically defective in the principles of humanity to the unfortunate, as well as in economy of expenditure. These unhappy objects of public charity are sold like mer­chandise or cattle in a public market to persons who are generally in­duced to become their purchasers from motives of gain or avarice, rather than humanity and benevolence, and the public charity thus offered, is often made a curse instead of a blessing. To me this practice seems de­grading to our character as a Christian people. Instead of lessening the sense of dependence as is, contemplated in the humane provision in our constitution, such a mode of relief is calculated to lacerate anew the already wounded sensibility, to increase the sense of degradation, and changes the unfortunate dependent from an object of public charity into a means of private speculation. That this system is defective in point of economy, will at once appear obvious, by referring to the items of expen­diture in the several counties in this state which I will endeavor to pro­cure and lay before you. It is submitted to your consideration, whether the spirit of the above provision of the constitution cannot be carried into effect efficiently, by dividing the state into districts of counties or larger, and making provisions for the establishment of an Asylum in each, where under the care of a single superintendent, made responsible for his con­duct, the poor, deaf, dumb and unfortunate of the district may be col­lected ; and those of them of capability occupied in some useful employ­ment contributory to their subsistence. It is believed that upon this system the poor can be maintained at an expense little exceeding one-half of that which is paid under the present system, besides affording abun­dantly the milk of human kindness."

    Of course the general view was not so serious as this, partly because the people were accustomed to the system, and partly because they saw the humorous side of it—for there is a humorous side to most of the trag­edies of human life. For example, any right-minded person is moved to sympathy with a crippled soldier; and yet the world has laughed over Hood's,
"Ben Battle was a soldier bold,
And used to war's alarms,
But a cannon-ball took off his legs,
So he laid down his arms."
But Hood, himself, moved the world to pity with his "Bridge of Sighs,'' and his  "Song of the Shirt.'' And indeed it seems a dispensation of Providence that mankind can see the humorous side of our everyday tragedies, or life would be unbearable to thousands, who, as it is, manage to get along fairly well on a sort of Mark Tapley basis. Within four months of this appeal, the Lawrenceburgh Palladium, on April 29, 1826, published the following advertisement of a sale of paupers, which it alleged to have been found on the door of its office:
"The poor overseers—it plainly appears—
For Lawrenceburgh town, County of Dearborn,
Have three paupers to let, for the best bid they can get,
On the first day of May, at the house of John Gray.
Arominta Keach, not quite out of reach;
With sore shin, we are told, 'most an hundred years old.
Rebecca Coosingberry, so healthy and merry;
Yet it is said has a lunatic head.
Francis Davis in turn is the worse by a burn;
One leg is not good, the other of wood;
A Tinker they tell, hell work when he's well."
The legislature was impressed by the Governor's words, and a com­mittee recommended dividing the State into three districts, with an asylum for each,5 but this was laid aside, and a law was adopted calling on the county clerks for information for statistics as to paupers. Four­teen of the counties reported under this law at the next session,e and their reports showed that the existing system was expensive; but no action was taken at the time, and the problem drifted along until December, 1830, when the legislature tried the Governor's other proposal of asking national aid; and adopted the following memorial to Congress:

    "The general assembly of the state of Indiana, as your memorialist, desires to lay before your honorable body, her views in regard to a subject not less addressed to the interest and humanity of all the states in the confederacy, as a common benefaction, than emphatically regarded by the constitution of this state, as specially demanding the interposition of her legislature. Though Indiana is bound by her charter to provide farms for asylums for the poor, infirm, and unfortunate, within the pales of her jurisdiction, she would, without such injunction, rejoice at every successful effort at home or abroad, tending to alleviate the distresses of this class of mankind. Under these convictions, she would respectfully submit to the Congress of the United States, her requests, that an act may be passed, granting one section of land for each county in the state, to be selected by her; which, or its proceeds, shall be applied to erect asylums and provide farms to receive all persons found to be objects of charity; and also granting two sections, to be located in like manner, to be applied to benefit the deaf and dumb within her entire boundaries; and also granting one section, in like manner, to erect and sustain a state lunatic asylum. In making this appeal, the state of Indiana repudiates the idea of selfishness, and wishes to be understood as desiring only to take upon herself the responsibility of an agent empowered to minister consolation to all whom casualty or misadventure, may render dependent on benevolent protection.

    "This general assembly wishes not to stop at the limits of this request now made, but to express a hope that all the western states, having unsold lands within their jurisdiction, may apply for and srucceed in obtaining similar grants to those applied for in this memorial. When tljis shall take place, the humane institutions they will foster, may be considered as much the common property of the whole union, and must be so in effect, as when they formed a part of the yet claimed general domain. The annual discharges of population from the old states, to those recently formed, must in the nature of things, furnish many objects calling for the exertion of the trust estate confided to our care, in such a manner as to display a union of philanthropy. Indeed when it is considered, that the unacclimated are necessarily more exposed to casualties of every des­cription, and more liable to fall victims to the assaults of the season, than the native, or old settler, the request herein made, may justly be viewed as tending only to induce a provision for ameliorating the condition of the distressed of the whole American family, whose necessities require aid. It is conclusive that the amount of lands asked for by this memorial, cannot be more appropriately applied, than to the objects referred to; and all the sympathies of our nature advocate the gift."

    This memorial does not appear to have been, presented to Congress, however, and the legislature adopted a law authorizing county boards to erect and maintain poor-houses, and in those without poor-houses the system of farming out was continued.  The hope of getting aid in the form of government land was not altogether abandoned, for on February 7, 1840, the legislature adopted a joint resolution asking Congress for two townships for the erection and maintenance of an asylum for deaf mutes and blind persons.9 This secured no action. It was apparently in pursuance of a movement started in 1827, under the influence of Ray's message. On January 26, 1827, the legislature reserved from sale block 22 in Indianapolis—bounded by Alabama, New Jersey, Ver­mont and New York streets—for a State hospital and insane asylum. Up to the present, this is one of the mysteries of local history. The block was retained by the State until 1847, when it was subdivided and sold, the proceeds going to the new Insane Hospital, then under construction. There is a tradition that on this block there were some old log buildings that were used for housing insane persons, and the establishment was known as "the Crazy Asylum," the inmates being transferred to the new Hospital when it was completed. Mr. Christian Schrader made a drawing of the buildings from memory. His recollection was confirmed by other old residents, as to the existence of the buildings, but not as to insane persons being domiciled there. But no record has been found of any State law referring to such an asylum; no mention of it in any of the newspapers; none in the records of the County Commissioners. The County purchased a farm on May 7, 1832,10 and erected a poor-house on it. At that time all insane, including idiots, "who have no property for their support," were entitled to relief as paupers. This provision was in effect from 1818 until the new Hospital was constructed, and under it the County insane would have gone
Crazy House
"The Crazy Asylum"
(From Memory picture, by Christain Schrader)

to the poor-farm. There is a tradition that the log buildings on the block had been built by set­tlers, prior to their use for the insane, but this seems improbable; and it does not account for the insane being there, as it must have been under some kind of governmental authority. It is probable that the applica­tion of the name "crazy asylum" was facetious, growing out of the ap­pearance of the buildings and the purpose for which the block was re­served. Possibly some future investigator may fall upon some other explanation, which is now lacking. In fact, there is no subject con­nected with Indiana history that presents a wider and more unoccupied field to the investigator who has the time and patience to seek for the explanation of human problems than this of insanity.

    In the Journal of Col. William Fleming, for April 3, 1780, he says: "The Frenchmen from the Illinois informed me that they were never troubled at St. Vincent or Opost either with Fleas or Batts neither of which could live there, the latter may be accounted by the water being impregnated by Arsenic." If this be true, it may serve as evidence of the fact that some of our evils are the products of civilization. In Indiana, insanity seems to be one of these. In 1819, David Baillie War­den wrote of Indiana: "Insanity is scarcely known either in this or the other western states." On July 23, 1817, Morris Birkbeck entered in his journal, at Vincennes: "Mental derangement is nearly unknown in these new countries. There is no instance of insanity at present in this State, which probably now contains 100,000 inhabitants. A middle-aged man, of liberal attainments and observation, who has lived much of his life in Kentucky, and has traveled a good deal over the western country, remarked, as an incident of extraordinary occurrence, that he once knew a lady afflicted with this malady." This seems incredible, and yet statistics are not inconsistent with it. The national census for 1850 reported 15,610 insane for the entire country, or 67.3 for each 100,-000 of population; while the census of 1880 reported 91,959, or 183.3 for each 100,000 of population. In the discussion of the subject in the census of 1910, the census of 1880 is considered the first reliable re­turn, but even on that basis, the showing is startling, for in 1910 the report was 187,731, or 204.2 to each 100,000 of population. If there was any regularity in the increase, there could not have been many in­sane in Indiana in 1817, on the general average; and presumably there were fewer on the frontier, in proportion, than in the older settlements. In 1840, the insane and idiotic together, in Indiana, were 72 to each 100,000, and it was estimated that they were somewhere near evenly divided, so that the insane could not have been over 40 or 50. It is to be noted also, that it was only the pauper insane who were admitted to poor-houses. The law made provision for guardians for those who had property, but there are indications that many of this class really fared worse than the pauper class. In the Indiana report for 1847, mention is made of an elderly woman who was "confined in an open log pen in a door yard in one of the counties lying west of Indian­apolis"; and of another who was "confined in an old smoke house and had been there for three successive years, a constant annoyance to the neighborhood by her piteous groans and frantic shrieks and howls' These were evidently violent maniacs, the "harmless" ones being usually allowed to roam at large.

    The difficulties as to penal institutions were much the same as those noted in the case of charitable institutions. It was for this reason that punishment by whipping was so common, and so with confinement in stocks. It was too expensive to hire someone to guard criminals. The practical system was to administer his punishment and turn him loose, or, if confined, to so confine him that he would need no attention. The earliest jails were constructed with this in view. They were usually substantial log buildings, two stories high, with no openings in the lower story but small windows, and a trap door leading to the upper story. The prisoner was conducted to the upper floor by an outside stair, and put down through the trap door into the lower room, or dungeon, locked in, and left to his reflections. In later years the refinement waa added of a door in the lower room, through which the prisoners were put in. This is the case with the one surviving jail of this type, in Brown County. The first penal institution of the State, like the Knox County poor-house, was designed for utilizing the labor of the inmates. The promoters of the Indiana canal around the falls of the Ohio wanted cheap labor. There were a number of prisoners in jails who were doing nothing, and for whose board the public was paying; and there were others who were being whipped and released, who might well be con­fined and put to work. The sentiment back of the change was not wholly due to financial considerations, however, for there was a growing repugnance to the whipping-post, as may be seen from the following from the Indiana Centinel of May 6, 1820:

    "On Thursday last the minds of our citizens were shocked by the shameful spectacle of a fellow-citizen tied to a sign-post, and flogged like a dog, under sentence of the Circuit Court, now sitting in this town. He was found guilty of a petty species of the same crime for which so many heroes and statesmen have been celebrated, and for which their names have been given to the applause of posterity. The sight was truly disgusting; and it was evident that the manly mind of the officer who executed the sentence revolted at the performance of that odious duty.

    "The criminal code of Indiana is a disgrace to civilization, and it ill becomes our lawgivers to boast of their refinement, while they sanc­tion this species of degrading brutality; or to laud their purgation from British severity, while they harbor this relic of its foulest barbarism. Corporal punishments are worse than useless; for nine times out of ten they are fatal to the mind of the victim he is lost to society he sinks under his sense of shame; or, if sensitive and revengeful, the petty felon becomes the hardened ruffian. If guilty, he is then desperate if in­nocent, the scars on his shoulders keep knocking at his heart, and calling for satisfaction in a voice that is never mistaken or unheeded.

    "The arguments against such punishments are inexhaustible and in­surmountable. We have often heard that we live in a government of mind, and foreigners have been simple enough to believe it till they read our statute book, and find that we consider ourselves as dogs and horses that we are governed by a mere animal system; that the skin of one brute lashes the hide of another, and that we all, quadrupeds and bipeds, have the same common impulses, sentiments and feelings.

    "An Indian who was standing near while this culprit was beaten, asked a French citizen if he wag a prisoner of war Y On being informed of his crime, and that he was thus punished for it, this untutored son of nature gave the savage interjection 'Woh!' and very significantly laid his hand upon his tomahawk. This single fact contains a volume for legislators."

    This sentiment fell in very nicely with the prison proposition, and so there was general satisfaction when the law for the establishment of a State prison was adopted, on January 9, 1821. This law created a board of five managers, who were to build the prison, and appoint an Agent, who was to have charge of the prison and "purchase provisions, clothing and tools necessary for the convicts, and raw materials to be by them manufactured, and dispose of the same for the support of the convicts and such other objects as the managers shall deem expedient." But, the Agent was further authorized with the consent of the man­agers, "to contract with the president and directors of the Jefferson-ville Ohio Canal Company for the employment of the able-bodied con­victs in labor on the said Canal in such manner as may be thought expedient.' To supply the convicts, provision was made that in all cases where a maximum punishment of 100 stripes was provided, a maxi­mum imprisonment of seven years should be substituted; for a maxi­mum of 50 stripes imprisonment for five years or less; and for 39 stripes not over three years. The State did not have the money for the build­ing, and its chief expectation at the time was from the sale of lots at Indianapolis. From the proceeds of these sales $3,000 was appropriated "towards the building of the said prison," and the remainder was to be contributed by individuals, who became joint stock-holders with the State in the profits of the institution, the provision being: "That after all expences for the support of the convicts, Clothing, &c, and suitable allowances to the officers of the prison are paid, the proportion of the residue of their earnings which would belong to the State, according to the different sums paid, shall be laid out in the purchase of canal stock  for the benefit of the state, and the proportions belonging to individuals according, to the amount by them subscribed and paid, shall be ap­portioned in such manner as the said managers may direct their said agent to contract with such individuals on their subscribing." This contract was authorized to be made for a term of eight years, and was so made.

    The project did not prove a wealth-producer, partly because the canal scheme went to pieces, as heretofore recounted, and partly for lack of prisoners. For the first year of the prison, ending November 30, 1822, there w&s but one convict on hand, and only three in the second year. The citizen who secured the position of first inmate was N. Strong, who was sent in for perjury, and he made a sturdy effort to keep out, by appealing to the Supreme Court on the ground that the law was ex post facto as to him. His offense was committed in July, 1821, and the prison law did not take effect until the Governor proclaimed that the prison building was completed, which he did on October 2, 1821, prior to Strong conviction. The Supreme Court was not inclined to stand on technicalities, and decided that the law changing the punish­ment from stripes to imprisonment did not create a new offense, nor in­crease the malignity of the existing offense, nor change the rules of evidence so as to make conviction easier, nor increase the punishment; and therefore there was nothing ex post facto about it.14 This decision was made in May, 1822, and for the remainder of the prison year, Mr. Strong had the prison all to himself. On January 31, 1824, a law was adopted abolishing the board of managers, and putting the prison under the charge of a Superintendent, appointed by the Governor, who was re­quired to "see that each prisoner is constantly employed in the best possible way so as to produce gain for the state." However, the Gov­ernor was directed to "make the best possible contract he can, respect­ing the expenses of the same, and to enable him so to do, he is hereby authorized either to farm the same out," or to conduct it under a Super­intendent, as before specified. The lease system was adopted, at least as to the labor of the convicts, the first lessee being Colonel Westover, who was later killed with Crockett at the Alamo. He was succeeded for five years by James Keigwin, in whose term occurred the first serious insubordination. A convict named Williams endeavored to kill Keigwin, and succeeded in shooting him twice, but not fatally. He was succeeded in 1836 by Patterson & Hensley, and they in 1841 by Joseph R. Pratt. Up to this time the prisoners had been employed in all sorts of out­side work, especially cutting wood and making brick. The original prison was a small primitive affair, at the corner of Ohio and Market streets, the cell-houses being constructed of logs. Under Pratt, ten acres were bought in the western part of the city six acres were added later for a garden and prisoners were used in constructing a new prison. The old leasing system was then continued until 1857, when the inside, manufacturing system was adopted, and thereafter continued.

    There was not much attention paid to reformatory influences in the early period. By an act of February 10, 1831, the Superintendent was required to furnish each prisoner with a Bible, which was to be his in­dividual property; also to allow clergymen to preach to the convicts on Sundays, and to allow proper persons who so desired to teach them on Sundays, and to distribute religious books and tracts. The same law provided for the separate confinement of the convicts, and that a pris­oner " shall not be permitted to speak to other prisoners during the night, and it shall be an established part of the prison discipline, that all conversation between the prisoners shall be prohibited, so far as is practicable, during the day, and while they are engaged at their labours or meals/' In 1839 Governor Wallace recommended the appointment of a chaplain, and the recommendation was adopted, with good effects. In 1857, James Runcie, who was then Chaplain, protested against put­ting boys in the prison with men. As there were then six women in the prison there had never been more than two in any previous year  he recommended the appointment of a matron, and this change was adopted. The discipline, prior to 1831, appears to have been lax; and indeed the confinement of the convicts was somewhat on the jail prin­ciple already mentioned, of securing and leaving them. On August 30, 1823, the Vincennes Sun recounts the escape of nine prisoners at Jeffersonville. who had all been locked in their cells but one, who was supposed to be confined to his bed by sickness, but who got up and let the others out. The account says: "The Agent had been absent for a number of days and the keepers were taken sick." The convicts were recaptured shortly after.

    But a change was coming, and not to Indiana alone. The whole civilized world was beginning to awake to the fact that there were bet­ter ways of dealing with the defective and criminal classes than those that had been in use for centuries. The earliest official recognition of this change is in the message of Governor Wallace, of December 4, 1838, as follows: "My attention has been directed to the very interesting subject of the education of the deaf and blind, by a communication from a Mr. James Hodge, the Secretary for the Institution of Deaf Mutes, and one of the Trustees of the Institution for the Blind, established at Columbus, in the State of Ohio. In order that the whole subject may be as fully submitted as possible, I lay the communication itself before you. From this document, it appears that there are now in that school of deaf mutes a number of pupils from Indiana, and that application has been made for the admission of several more, who, on account of their extreme indigence and inability to pay the necessary expenses, could not be received. But supposing, as I hope she well may, that Indiana will not consent to be behind any of her sister states, either in offices of benevolence or deeds of humanity this gentleman suggests tfce propriety of her doing for her indigent Deaf and Blind, what Ohio has done and is now doing for hers appropriate something from the public purse to enlighten and educate them. A nobler, a purer, a brighter act of genuine benevolence, cannot be made to grace your statute book. Permit me also to lay before you a letter upon the same subject from Mr. Samuel Reese, a very respectable and intelligent citizen of our own State, and to earnestly recommend the suggestions contained in it to your serious consideration/' Who was Samuel Reese? This is the only known clue to the citizen of Indiana who first took up this cause. Gray wrote, "Some mute, inglorious Milton here may rest"; but there have been hundreds of Miltons who were not mute, who have come to the same inglorious condition; and Indiana is not lacking in them. May­hap these lines may reach some person who knows who he was, and tardy recognition may come to his memory. Of what interest it would now be to know what led him to investigate the subject, and write to the Governor concerning it. Possibly it was he who induced "a Mr. James Hodge" to send the documents and suggest action by Indiana. What a pity that in all the waste of printer's ink on mere transitory matters, Governor Wallace did not add three words telling Reese's residence.

    On January 31, 1839, Mr. William T. Noel, of Parke County, of the committee to which this part of the Governor's message was re­ferred, made a most able report to the House, demonstrating that there had been a full and strong presentation of the subject in the letters and documents submitted; but he did not event mention Hodge or Reese. Five hundred copies of the report were printed, and the careful printer dated it January 31, 1838, instead of 1839. We have at least the com­fort of reflection that perhaps a part of our public carelessness is in­herited. But the report throws some light on the current ideas on the subject, as may be seen from the following passages. After mentioning that there were probably from three to five hundred deaf mutes in Indiana, "one-third of whom, at least, are proper subjects for education," the report proceeds: "As to the practicability of communicating an education to every one of this class, possessed of a sound mind, there no longer remains a doubt. It is fully demonstrated that they are susceptible of receiving, not only a partial, but a very refined education. This is not, however, attainable in our common schools. It requires a sep­arate institution, and entirely a different system of instruction.  We have carefully examined into their own accounts of the extent of their knowledge before they were educated, and have not been able to find a single instance of one who, without the aid .of education, was ever able to comprehend the exisrtence of a Supreme Being. Even those who have been taught to perform all the rites of the Christian religion, and were, to all appearances, devout worshipers, have universally de­clared, on becoming educated, that they had no conception of anything beyond the mere external forms which they practiced. Conscience, with them, derives all its light from the impulses of nature and the mere external appearances of the conduct of others, without knowing anything of the motives that induce it. It can recognize no invariable law; and consequently, often leaves these unfortunate persons to com­mit the grossest crimes without the slightest sense of guilt." After further presenting the recognized demands of charity; that the "want of proper clothing and protection from severe and inclement weather; of sound aftd wholesome food, and proper care and nursing in time of sickness and childhood, are assigned by medical writers as the most com­mon causes that produce either or both deafness and dumbness"; and their conviction that the establishment of an institution was an impera­tive duty; the Committee concluded: "For this purpose, the committee proposes to take from the common schools one-fourth part of the an­nual products of that part of the surplus revenue set apart to that object. It has been appropriated for the support of common schools; find inas­much as these individuals cannot be educated in these institutions, they would seem to have some claim on us, to so appropriate a part of this fund as to be of some benefit to them.

    The committee reported a bill in conformity with their recommenda­tion, but nothing was done with it. The matter went over to the next legislature, and on February 7, 1840, it tried the experiment of a joint resolution asking Congress for two townships of land for the construc­tion and support of asylums for the deaf and dumb and the blind. But Congress did not respond, and on February 13, 1843, a tax of one-fifth of a cent on $100 was levied to provide for an institution, the tax being continued until the fund was sufficient, but was increased to one-half cent in 1845, and to a cent and one-half in 1847. Fortunately, James S. Brown, the second superintendent of the institution, had the wisdom to present not only a history of the evolution of instruction of the deaf and dumb, but also a history of the inception of the Indiana undertaking, as follows: "In the fall of 1841, Mr. William C. Bales, since deceased, then the sheriff of Vermillion County, placed his mute son in the Ohio Institution. The visit which he then paid that Asylum interested him more deeply than before in the enterprise of educating the deaf and dumb. The next year he was elected to represent his county in the legislature. Some time during the year 1842, James McLean, a mute, commenced a school in Parke County. This school was continued for more than a year, but at no time contained more than six pupils, and three or four of these were taught gratis.16 Mr. Wm. Crumpton, of Attica, was one of his patrons; and from his representations Mr. Coffin, then the representative from Parke, became interested in the subject. At the meeting of the Legislature in 1842-3, the two members above referred to consulted together, and, as the result of their deliberations, Mr. Bales, on the 4th of February, presented a bill which, after some amendments, passed both branches. This was passed by the unanimous consent of all parties. Indeed, to enumerate its friends would be to mention the names of the whole Legislature; and one as much as another, probably, deserves the credit of its enactment. It was a noble act, and the first instance on record where a people were taxed for such a purpose!

    "In the summer of 1843, Mr. William Willard visited Indianapolis with a view of establishing a school. He was most cordially welcomed by many benevolent persons, citizens of the city, and of the State who happened to be here at the time. He soon commenced the tour of the State, and visited most families in which he could ascertain there were mutes. Encouraged by the kind reception which he everywhere met, he returned and opened a private school in this city on the 1st of Oc­tober. At first there were but six pupils in attendance. They in­creased during the year to sixteen. At the session of 1843 the school in the west (McLean's) having proved a failure, a Board of Trustees were appointed to superintend the opening of a State Institution. The original members were His Excellency James Whitcomb, Rqyall May-hew, Esq., William Sheets, Esq., Rev. Henry W. Beecher, Rev. Phineas D. Gurley, Rev. Love H. Jameson, Livingston Dunlap, M. D., Hon. James Morrison arid Rev. Pres. Matthew Simpson. The question of a permanent location was left open, and the Governor was authorized to receive propositions on the subject. Mr. Willard was allowed a compensation from the commencement of his school, These Trustees, on the 1st of October following, adopted the private school in this city, and continued Mr. Willard as Principal. The number of pupils enrolled during the next year was twenty-three; the greatest actual attendance was nineteen. It had been contemplated from the first, to ultimately appoint a Principal who could hear and speak. This intention was carried out, in June, 1845, by the appointment of the undersigned, his duties to commence on the 1st of August following. The highly valued services of Mr. Willard were continued in the capacity of an Assistant. The Legislature of 1845-6 permanently located the Asylum at Indianapolis and three thousand dollars were appropriated for the purchase of a site. At the darkest hour of her trial, her finances in almost hopeless depression, while the cold, unpitying finger of scorn was beginning to point at her hitherto fair escutcheon, and the startling though scarce-breathed whisper was heard, 'Indiana will repudiate!' it was at this time our noble State remembered her un­fortunate children the Deaf and Dumb, the Lunatic, and the Blind. She took them by the hand, and scorning to take the funds which others might claim, though locked in her own treasury, she taxed her citizens, to raise a special, a sacred revenue for their benefit. How stands the case now? Her credit is redeemed. A spacious building, even now erected, tells how she will house and care for the poor Lunatic; already has she gathered her blind from all quarters of her extensive domain, and presents, only four years after its organization, an Institution actually educating a greater number of Mutes, in proportion to her population, than any other State in the Union."

    The Willard school, when taken over by the State was housed in a frame building that stood at the southeast corner of Illinois and Mary­land streets, where the Grand Hotel now stands, and later in the Kinder building, on Washington Street near Delaware, until the building was completed in 1850 on the permanent site on East Washington Street at State Avenue then outside of the city. Thirty acres were purchased at first, and one hundred were added later. The original building cost $30,000. The institution remained at this site for half a century. In 1903 the legislature provided for its relocation, and two years later a site was selected north of the City, and about 77 acres were purchased. In 1907 the name of the institution was fixed by law as The Indiana State School for the Deaf. It is strictly an educational institution, with school year from September to June. Attendance is compulsory for deaf mute children from seven to eighteen years, if approved by the Board of Trustees, and residents of Indiana are admitted to the age of twenty-one. All expenses are borne by the State except clothing and traveling charges, which are paid by parents, or, in case of indigence, by the county from which received. The School was opened at its present site October 11, 1911, and is a model in buildings, furnishings and operation.               

    Provision for the insane was practically contemporaneous with that for the deaf and dumb, and there has been a lack of credit for the origin of its inception similar to that in other reforms. In an article in "The Survey/' April 22, 29, 1916, Alexander Johnson says: "Twenty-eight years after the admission to the Union, Dorothea Dix, of blessed memory, came to Indiana with her gospel of humane and scientific care for the insane. One speech by her to the General Assembly of 1844, pre­pared for as it was by visits of inspection of the insane in almshouses and jails, within a few miles of the capitol, was enough to rouse the law makers, and they created the State Lunatic Asylum, the name of which was changed in 1846 to the Indiana Hospital for the Insane." Mr. Johnson was probably mislead by this claim being made for Miss Dix in her biography, but she did not visit the State for some time after 1844. Her memorial to the legislature of Massachusetts, in which she attracted the attention of the nation by her statement: "I proceed, gentlemen, briefly to call your attention to the present state of insane persons confined within this Commonwealth, in cages, closets, cellars, stalls, pens; chained, naked, beaten with rods, and lashed into obedience," was dated January, 1843; and this was the beginning of her career as a legislative reformer, though she had been investigating for some time previously. After securing reform in Massachusetts she took up the same work in other states, and in the winter of 1844-5 visited Ken­tucky, and on March 31, 1845, she wrote: "I designed using the spring and summer chiefly in examining the jails and poorhouses of Indiana and Illinois. Having successfully completed my mission in Kentucky, I learned that traveling in the States referred to would be difficult, if not impossible, for some weeks to come, on account of mud and rains. This decided me to go down the Mississippi to examine the prisons and hos­pitals of New Orleans," etc. This she did, and the letter quoted was written on board ship, off South Carolina. The origin of the Indiana reform belongs to the medical profession, whose members were taking interest in the demonstration that insanity was a disease, often curable, if taken in time. The reform work of Pinel in France, and William Tuke in England, begun almost contemporaneously, and independently, in the closing years of the eighteenth century, had convinced the skeptical that a madhouse might be made an insane hospital; and the success of the hospitals opened at Philadelphia in 1817,21 at Hartford in 1824, and at Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1830, had opened the eyes of intelligent physicians everywhere. In reality the medical aspect was not fully de­veloped until Dr. John Conolly came on the fttage in England about 1840.

    In his message of December 7, 1841, Governor Bigger said: "When Indianapolis was established as the seat of our State Government, upon lands granted by Congress for that purpose, a lot of ample size was reserved by the State for the purpose of a Lunatic Asylum. Nothing has been done heretofore by the Legislature to carry out the object of this reservation, although the example of several neighboring States has been constantly before us for several years. In all the legislation re­specting the insane, they have only been regarded as incapable of self-government. No provision has been made for the establishment of an institution where they may be placed, and submitted to proper medical treatment. The question is left for your decision, whether, and by what means, the object of the above reservation shall be effected." On its face, this has the appearance of a suggestion made by request, which is not an uncommon thing when influential persons have something that they desire to bring before the legislature, and to which the Gov­ernor does not wish to commit himself, while he desires to please them. It is certain that Governor Bigger did not manifest much interest in the project afterwards, and it is certain that a movement was on foot, for on January 5, 1842, one year before Miss Dix made her appeal to the Massachusetts legislature, Representative Hannegan presented to the Indiana House the memorial of Dr. John Evans, and Dr. Isaac Fisher, of Attica, with a number of other petitioners, in relation to the estab­lishment of an asylum for the insane. Later developments showed that the moving spirit was Dr. Evans, who was one of the most notable men that ever lived in the State. It is recounted that one day he declared to a group of fellow Atticans, that "before he died, he intended to build a city, found a college, be governor of a state, go to the United States Senate, make himself famous and amass a "fortune." He not only did all of that, and more, but he left a trail of beneficences half way across the continent. He was born near Waynesville, Ohio, March 9, 1814, and was descended from one of the oldest of the Quaker families of Pennsylvania. His great grandfather was a manufacturer of tools, at Philadelphia, and this handicraft came down in the family, his great uncle, Owen Evans, being the inventor of the screw auger. His grand­father removed to South Carolina, but soon left there on account of his objections to slavery, and settled in the wilds of Ohio, where he farmed, and manufactured augers until he retired with a fortune. His son, David, John's father, was a farmer, and John grew up on the farm, with usual country school advantages. But when grown, he went to Phila­delphia, and took a course at Clermont Academy. He then began the study of medicine, and took his degree in 1838. In 1839 he married Hannah Canby, a cousin of Gen. E. R. S. Canby, and they located at Attica, where he soon acquired a reputation as a physician and a financier.

    The memorial of 1842 was referred to the Committee on Education, of which Dr. James Ritchey, of Franklin, himself a prominent physician, was chairman, and on January 23, 1842, he made an extended report, setting forth the importance of the matter, and quoting a report of the Ohio asylum, from which, he said: ' * We find that there have been applications made for the admission of 13 insane persons from this State into the Ohio Lunatic Asylum. These applications have been refused for want of room. What burning shame should crimson the cheek of every Indianian on being informed of the foregoing fact. In view of the facts, and "the great necessity of speedy action upon this important subject," the Committee recommended the adoption of a resolution in­structing the Governor to correspond with the superintendents of asylums in other states, and secure plans for buildings, and other information, which plans and information he shall communicate to the next General Assembly, with such recommendations on the subject of the immediate undertaking of the erection and establishment of an Indiana lunatic asylum as he may think proper." This resolution promptly passed both houses, and was approved by the Governor on January 31, 1842. The Governor apparently did nothing, at least nothing of importance, and did not mention the subject in his next message; but on December 27, 1842, a second memorial from Doctors Evans and Fisher was presented, "suggesting the propriety of.appropriating Indiana's share of the pro­ceeds of the public lands to the erection of a Lunatic Asylum." This was referred to the Committee on Finance, which, on January 2, 1843, reported its intense sympathy with the project, but, "with this most un­happy condition of so many of our fellow-citizens before us, it is with much regret that your committee, owing to the extremely embarrassed condition of the finances of the State, recommend a postponement of the further consideration of the subject." This was concurred in, and the Committee discharged; but the legislature showed its sentiment by a rather sharp resolution of February 13, 1843, declaring that delay in the matter was "criminal," and making it the duty of the Governor to correspond and report as before directed, "whereupon it shall be the duty of the legislature to adopt proper measures for the immediate erection of a Lunatic Asylum in the State of Indiana."

    In his message of December 5, 1843, Governor Bigger referred to this resolution, and said: "This duty has been attended to, and the docu­ments and information which have been collected are in the possession of I. P; Smith, Esq., who is preparing plans and specifications in relation to an asylum, which will be ready to be laid before the legislature in the course of a few days." Smith was an architect at New Albany. The medical profession had resolved on a change of base, and, without waiting for Smith's report, on December 13, a communication from Dr. James Matthews was presented in the Senate, and referred to the Com­mittee on Education. On December 19, Senator Carr, of Lawrence, reported from this Committee deep sympathy and appreciation of the importance of the measure, but owing to the great debt of the State and the heavy taxes, " under the circumstances it would be inexpedient to legislate upon that subject at present." But the Senate would not have this disposal of the subject, and on motion Senator Buell, the communication of Dr. Matthews was recommitted to the Committee on Education, with instructions, "To report the probable expense of an asylum, the time it will take to complete it, and all other matters there to appertaining." This was followed by an invitation to Dr. Evans to address the legislature on the subject; also by a second communica- tion from Dr. Matthews, which with the plans of Mr. Smith, was also referred to the same Committee. Dr. Evans made an able presentation of the en­tire subject before the legislature and a large audience of citizens. The majority of the Committee on Education has an access of light; and on January 12, 1844, Dr. Ritchey reported for the Committee, urg­ing immediate'action, and recommending a tax of one cent on $100. The report was adopted, and the tax levied. At the beginning of the next session, Dr, Evans was promptly on hand with another memorial; and there was an improvement in the situation. Governor Whitcomb had come into office, and he warmly espoused the charitable work, not­withstanding his anxiety to get out of the financial tangle. In his open­ing message he said: "While on this subject, I desire earnestly to call your attention to the importance of providing an institution for the education of the Blind, and for the construction of a Lunatic Asylum. Modern philanthropy has happily devised the means of educating those who are deprived of sight, and We should regard it as a sacred debt which we owe to these unfortunates to afford them the benefit of this benevolent discovery. It is now ascertained that insanity, the most ter­rible disease which afflicts our race, will in a majority of cases, readily yield to medicine, and kind treatment, if these means are resorted to in time. Its wretched subjects would thus be restored to the kindly charities of the domestic circle, to the benefits of society, and to their various relations, obligations, and advantages as members of the State. Surely these unfortunate classes are entitled to our warmest sympathy, and their relief to the extent of our ability, is called for by sound econ­omy, by enlightened policy, by the gratitude we owe to a merciful Providence, for our own exemption from these evils, and by the obligations of religion.''

    This emphasis on religion, giving Governor Whitcomb credit for the utmost sincerity, suggests the possibility of an influence, perhaps unconscious, of church politics. As has been mentioned, Governor Big­ger was defeated for re-election largely through the influence of the Methodists. Dr. Evans had become an intimate of Bishop Simpson, and under his eloquent preaching had become converted, and joined the Methodist church, of which he was thereafter one of the most zealous and useful lay members. He was an able politician, of the better class, and it is hardly imaginable that he did not make himself felt in that campaign. At any rate, he was on the best of terms with Governor Whitcomb. His memorial and the part of the Governor's message quoted were referred to the Senate Committee on Education, and on De­cember 28, 1844, Dr. Ritchey reported for the Committee in favor of creating a commission to purchase a site, and take charge of the erection of a building. An act for that purpose was approved January 13, 1845, making Dr. John Evans, Dr. Livingston Dunlap, and James Blake com­missioners. They selected and purchased the Bolton farm, west of the river, which had been made historic by its "Mount Jackson Tavern/* presided over by Sarah T. Bolton. They wanted more light before adopting plans, but had no "junketing" appropriation. Evans vol­unteered to visit existing institutions at his own expense, and trust to the legislature to reimburse him. He went to all of the principal in­stitutions of the country, consulted experts and reformers, including Miss Dix, and on June 22, 1845, reported the results to the Commission, with admirable detail not only as to the general plan of a building, but also as to the practical features of water supply, heating, drainage, ventilation, and the like. This was submitted to the legislature with the Commission's report. They had discarded the Smith plans, and had new ones made by John R. Elder, of Indianapolis, utilizing the informa­tion collected by Evans. By act of February 19, 1846, they were di­rected to proceed with the work; additional appropriations were made; and they were authorized to sell Hospital Square, No. 22, and use the proceeds. The building, was begun promptly, and pushed as fast as the proceeds of the tax would allow. Two wards were opened for patients in December, 1848, accommodating forty applicants, and the remainder of the South wing was completed in the summer of 1849. The entire building, when finished in 1850, had cost $75,000.

    Dr. Evans continued with the institution until the summer of 1848. After the passage of the act of 1846, the Commission felt the need of a Superintendent of construction, and decided that Evans was the one man for the place. He resigned from the Commission to accept it, and Dr. J. S. Bobbs was appointed in his place. Evans had removed to In­dianapolis, where he had an extensive practice in addition to his work on the building; but in 1845 he had been appointed a lecturer at Rush Medical College, at Chicago, and he foresaw the possibilities of that city, which he had first visited with some farmer friends who tried hauling produce overland to that point from Attica, instead of flat-boating to New Orleans. He removed to Chicago in 1848, and at once became a leading spirit there, his first move being the issue of a pamphlet com­batting accepted ideas on cholera, and advocating strict quarantine as a preventive. He edited for a number of years the Northwestern Medical and Surgical Journal, and founded the Illinois General Hospital of the Lakes, later Mercy Hospital. He was instrumental in establishing the Methodist Book Concern, and the Northwestern Christian Advocate. He was one of the promoters of the Fort Wayne & Chicago Railroad, secured its valuable right of way into Chicago, and was for years its resident managing director. By wise real estate investments he ac­quired a fortune. In 1853 he became the chief promoter of Northwesrtern University, and selected its site, which was named Evanston in his honor. By reserving a quarter of each block for endowment, and making investments for it in the heart of Chicago, he established its splendid financial foundation he also endowed chairs to the extent of $100,000, and was president of the Board of Trustees for forty-two years. He also got into politics as a city councilman, in 1852-3, and did good work for the Chicago schools by securing the appointment of a superintendent of schools, and the establishment of the first high school. He was an original Republican, and ran for Congress in 1855, but was defeated because he would not indorse the Knownothing doctrine. He had become a personal friend of Abraham Lincoln while at Attica, and as a delegate to the convention of 1860, helped nominate him for President. In 1861 Lincoln offered to appoint him Governor of Washington Territory, which he declined; but in 1862 he accepted an appointment as Governor of Colorado territory, and became its active war Governor. In 1865 Colo­rado elected him United States Senator, and asked admission to the Union; but the move was prevented by the hostility of President John­son. He inaugurated the movement for Colorado Seminary, later the University of Denver, in 1863, and made donations to it to the amount of $150;000. In 1869, when the Union Pacific built its line north of Denver, and refused to connect with that city, he secured the Denver Pacific land grant from Congress, and built the road from Denver to Cheyenne, 106 miles. Next he built the South Park Railroad; and then started the Denver, Texas and Gulf, to give the shortest possible line to the seaboard. In 1870, on the completion of the line to Cheyenne, a state celebration was held at Greeley, and Mount Evans was named in his honor—the name being formally confirmed by the legislature of Colorado in 1895, on his eighty-first birthday. Such was the monument prepared for him when he died at Denver, July 3, 1897.
Dr. Evans
Doctor Evans

    I have dwelt on this phase of Indiana history because it is a remark­able illustration of the influence of a persistent and resourceful man. It is really extraordinary that Indiana launched as she did in be­nevolent enterprises at a period when her financial condition seemed al­most hopeless; and evidently it was largely the result of the relentless energy of Dr. Evans. His contemporaries showed some recognition of this. In 1846, the Insane Hospital Commissioners, James Blake, and Doctors Dunlap and Bobbs, testified that he was "the first to press the duty of making provision for the insane of this State upon the atten­tion of the Legislature."24 In 1847, Miss Dix wrote: "To the present superintendent of this excellent work, Dr. Evans, the citizens of In­diana owe a debt of gratitude which few can estimate, because it is but few who have the opportunity of understanding the measure of his labors or the ability requisite for devising and carrying out such plans as are comprised in the Indiana State Hospital for the Insane."25 It may be noted here that it was in 1847 that Dorothea Dix visited Indiana and inspected jails and poor-houses, not merely "within a few miles of the eapitol," but in half of the counties in the State. She had by that time carried her crusade into a number of states, and had found condi­tions much the same everywhere. In Indiana she found conditions rather better than the average so much so that the Journal, in which her letters were published, from August to October, congratulated the State on the showing, and said: "In nearly every case where it ('suffering hu­manity') goes unprovided for, it is attributed to a misdirection of the charitable funds for which the people have cheerfully suffered them­selves to be taxed."26 She found several counties that had no poor-houses, and others where there were bad results from farming the houses out. A large amount of her criticism was of the jails, not only the old log jails, of which there were still a number, but also of more pretentious new structures, which appeared to have been built more for show than for use. She might have made that criticism of almost any public building in Indiana, up to the present time. This is not due to lack of precaution, for the usual course is to have a commission, and competitive plans, with expert advisers; but having taken the precautions, the commissions usually follow the same old stupid course of going in for looks, with little regard for the practical use of the build­ing. In consequence, we have already entered on the period of altering and reconstructing buildings that were designed to last for a century, and not infrequently to the damage of that architectural beauty which was their chief commendation at the outset. It may also be noted that as a result of this "publicity" from Miss Dix, improvements were speedily made at several of the points criticised.
Dorothea L. Dix
Miss Dix

    With the ice broken by provision for the deaf and dumb and the in­sane, that for the blind came more easily. The prime mover in this was James M. Ray. He was a native of New Jersey, born in 1800, who came to Lawrenceburgh in 1818, and served there as deputy in the County Clerk's office, and later in the same capacity at Connersville. He came to Indianapolis in 1821, and was clerk at the first sale of lots. The next year he was elected County Clerk, and was continued in that office, and as County Recorder, until the organization of the State Bank, in 1834, when he was made Cashier of that institution. He held that posi­tion during its existence, and was then made Cashier of its successor, the Bank of the State of Indiana, continuing until made its President. He was a rock-ribbed Presbyterian, and active in every good work. He was prominent in organizing the local Bible Society and the first Sun­day School at Indiana- polis; was secretary of the first Temperance So­ciety, the Colonization Society, and the first Fire Company, and was treasurer of the Indianapolis Benevolent Society from its organization in 1836. During the Civil war he was an enthusiastic Union man, and was treasurer of the Indiana Branch of the Christian Commission, of the Indiana Freedman's Aid Commission, and of the Indiana Soldiers' and Sailors' Home. When his career was ended by death, on Feb­ruary 22, 1881, he was President of the Board of Trustees of Crown Hill Cemetery. During the legislative session of 1844-5, Ray brought W. H. Churchman to Indianapolis, with several pupils from the Ken­tucky School for the Blind, and had exhibitions of their work, with lectures, in Henry Ward Beecher's church, which were attended by the legislators, and which induced them to pass a law for a tax of two mills on $100 for the education of the blind. At the next session, Ray, Dr. George W. Mears, and the Auditor, Treasurer and Secretary of State were made a Commission to control the fund, and were directed, until a school was established in Indiana, to furnish blind children of Indiana with instruction in the Schools at Louisville and Columbus. This sys­tem did not prove satisfactory; and the Commission next sent Church­man over the State to lecture, report on the number of blind children, and persuade their parents to have them educated. Churchman was an interesting character. After becoming blind, himself, he was educated at the Blind Institute at Philadelphia, and devoted himself to the educa­tion of others. He had taught for four years at the Ohio Institute, and had been Principal of the one in Tennessee. On October 1, 1847, the Commission opened a school at Illinois and Maryland in the building formerly occupied by the Deaf and Dumb school, with Churchman in charge. It opened with nine pupils and increased to thirty during the year. The Commission purchased two blocks, now occupied by the Blind School and St. Clair Park, and erected a three story building, later used for a work-shop, to which the school was removed in September, 1848. The Asylum, or main building, was completed in 1851, at a cost of $50,000, and has ever since been occupied, wings being added as the in­stitution developed. It may be added in passing that Churchman was a student of practical sciences, and read a paper on "The Air We Breathe"—a treatise on ventilation—before the Western Social Science Association, at Chicago, in 1870, which was later published in book form.
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