Overview

"The Minnesota State Academy for the Blind was founded in the southern Minnesota town of Faribault in 1866. Since that time, the institution has continually adapted its facilities in response to changes in educational philosophy and student population. Initially a division of the Minnesota Institute for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, the school occupied a series of temporary quarters until moving into a structure erected for its use, the Blind Department Building (HABS No. 161-A), in 1874. The next year, James J. Dow became the school's principal and, in 1879, its superintendent. During his long tenure, which continued until 1920, Dow initiated a variety of programs to provide the blind with vocational, as well as academic, training. He also oversaw expansion of the school's physical plant, including the construction in 1883 of the campus's dominant building (HABS No. 161-B), which was later named in his honor. The structure was enlarged in 1895 and again between 1914 and 1917. The latter renovation, planned by state architect Clarence Johnston, transformed the building's style from Second Empire to Georgian Revival. To make way for a north addition, the Blind Department Building, which had served as a wing of the hall, was relocated. Although both buildings continued to house a variety of activities in the following decades, their functions were gradually usurped by new buildings on campus. At the same time, national education policy began discouraging residential programs for the disabled in favor of "mainstreaming," which reduced the school's population. By the late twentieth century, the school had concluded that Dow Hall and the Blind Department Building were functionally and structurally obsolete and should be demolished."^[2]