Institute For The Blind

Nebraska City    

Principal

N.  C.  Abbott  

Matron

Lillian   Abbott 

Teachers 

E.  C.  Cook 

Clark  Bruce 

Mary Morton  

Helen    Chase   

Jennie   Johnson 

Catharine   Bosworth   

Marjorle   White  

Eula Marshall  

Mnrguret   Steward   

Mary  Cook  

C.  F.   Orton 

The Institute for the blind was established at Nebraska City by act of the legislature approved February 19, 1875.

The citizens of Nebraska City were to raise $4,000 and turn the amount over to the board of trustees.

The Institute was located on ten acres of land and within one mile of the court house of the city.

The legislature of 1897 placed the Institute for the blind and the Nebraska school for the deaf under one governing board.

This Institution has been defined by statute and by a court decision (48 Neb. 184) to be an educational Institution, not an asylum.

Secretary Joel A. Piper of the board of charities and corrections reported on November 30. 1912, as   follows:

"The enrollment at the Institution is gradually declining, and this is one of our state Institutions that is not overcrowded.

This, in a measure, may be attributed to the medical inspection which is now given pupils in the public schools, as many people become blind from causes that might be prevented if attention were given them at the proper  time.”

The statute provides that "all blind persons and those blind to such an extent that they cannot acquire an education in the common schools of the state, of suitable age and capacity and of good moral character, shall be entitled to an education in the Institution for the blind without charge."

Nebraska Blue Book - 1915