Overbrook School for the Blind

The Overbrook School for the Blind in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was established in 1832. Its present site, in the city's Overbrook neighborhood, was acquired in 1890.[1] Along with the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, the Western Pennsylvania School for Blind Children and the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, it is one of four state-approved charter schools for blind and deaf children in Pennsylvania.

Overbrook School for the Blind
The school in 1911

History
1840 print by John Caspar Wild showing the Twentieth and Race (then Sassafras and Schuylkill Third) Streets building

On 27 October 1836, a new building was dedicated on the northwest corner of Schuylkill Third (now Twentieth) and Sassafras (now Race) Streets on what is today the site of the Franklin Institute in the Logan Square neighborhood of Philadelphia.[2]

Friedlander died on 17 March 1837, after years of poor health. At the time of his death, he was not quite 36 years old.[2]: 122 

In 1960 the school had a fire.[3]

During the early 1900s, the school offered athletic programs for its students.[4] In June 1907, Overbrook's track and field team members defeated their rivals from the Baltimore School for the Blind in the annual intercollegiate competition held between the schools.[5]

That same month, Professor Olin H. Burrit became the new superintendent of the school. He had previously been employed as the superintendent of the New York State School for the Blind.[6]

In December 1907, the school's forty-member choir performed at the dedication of Philadelphia's Grace Baptist Temple.[7]

Anne V. Ward (1877–1971) was both an alumna and a faculty member of Overbrook.[8]

Elisabeth Freund (1898–1982) developed a Touch and Learn Center for the school that was a model for other blind centers internationally.[9]

References
  1. OBS history. "Overbrook School for the Blind - Our Museum and History". Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  2. Freund, Elisabeth D. (1959). Crusader for light: Julius R. Friedlander, founder of the Overbrook School for the Blind, 1832. Philadelphia: Dorrance & Co. pp. 92–93.
  3. "Blind Telephone Operator – Heroine Of Fire". Reading Eagle. March 11, 1960. Retrieved 2010-11-21.
  4. "The Blind Engaged in Sports." Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Carlisle Evening Herald, June 11, 1907, front page (subscription required).
  5. "Blind Boys Shine in Athletics on Track and Field." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 9, 1907, p. 15 (subscription required).
  6. "Prof. O. H. Burrit of Batavia Resigns." Buffalo, New York: The Buffalo News, April 19, 1907, p. 5 (subscription required).
  7. "Grace Baptist Church Dedicated." Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 2, 1907, p. 14 (subscription required).
  8. "Anne V. Ward Dies, Teacher of Blind, 94" The Philadelphia Inquirer (June 2, 1971): 53. via Newspapers.com
  9. Hirsch, Luise. 2013. From the shtetl to the lecture hall: Jewish women and cultural exchange.
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