Texas School for the Deaf history

The school’s original 57.7 acres next to Swisher’s land were formally purchased by the state in 1858 with a check for $5,500.

Around 1868 the school was renamed to the Texas Deaf and Dumb Institution.

In 1871 the name was changed to Texas Institution for the Deaf and Dumb.

A state printing office was established at the TSD in 1876.

The institution's name changed again to Texas Deaf and Dumb Asylum around 1877.

The Asylum for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind Colored Youth had been built on Bull Creek Road in 1887.

The school's deaf-blind department opened in 1900.

The Texas Board of Control received power over TSD in 1919, the year it was formed.

By 1923 it had grown into the second-largest school for the deaf in the United States.

In 1949, the School was placed under the newly created Board for Texas State Hospitals and Special Schools, and the official name of the School was changed to the Texas School for the Deaf.

In 1951, after almost a century of effort to identify TSD as an educational institution, the Legislature directed that the State Board of Education would govern the schools.

Also in 1965, the Texas Deaf and Blind and Orphan School for Colored Youths on Airport Boulevard integrated its students with the special schools.

Twenty-five years ago, Baldwin married Rosie Serna, a 1967 graduate of the school and former lead dancer for the American Deaf Dance Company and Sharir Dance Company.

In 1973, Senate Bill 803 established the Regional Day Programs for the Deaf in Texas.

Baldwin taught his first unofficial course in deaf history and culture in 1978.

In 1979 the Texas Legislature transferred responsibility of the TSD to an independent board; the board members include deaf persons, parents of deaf people, and professionals in the deafness sector.

In the late 1980’s, a decision was made to consolidate TSD’s two campuses and a plan to design 458,000 square feet of new construction began.

TSD became a state agency in 1981, and it also received the designation of being an independent school district.

“But it took the historic ‘Deaf President Now’ protest at Gallaudet in 1988 to really start the field of deaf studies,” Baldwin says. “The media didn’t treat deaf rights positively until that civil rights protest.

From 1990 to present, TSD has been engaged in a major facility construction plan.

Barnes Architects of Austin was hired to design the campus, and in 1999, their design was one of five top winning designs in the state.