The Oklahoma School for the Blind was truly a pioneer institution. In 1897 Miss Lura A. Rowland, a graduate of the Arkansas School for the Blind and "a frail wisp of a girl," solicited funds and undertook to establish a school for the blind children of Indian Territory at Fort Gibson, Oklahoma. She operated the school without any government assistance for ten years, though there are reams of correspondence indicating she implored governors, congressmen, and other public officials to assist her struggling organization. She did present a case sufficient to be permitted the use of the old Barracks Building to house her school. Concurrently, a Territorial School for the Deaf had been established in Guthrie in 1897 under a five-year contract to care for deaf children under boarding school regulations.
Miss Rowland traveled all over Indian Territory, appearing before the various tribal councils, presenting her needs. Since few Native Americans were blind until Europeans brought diseases causing blindness to the tribes, there was not the acceptance that might have been the case otherwise. During the first four years the institution was supported solely by contributions from the people of the Indian Territory and sympathizing states. In 1900 the Choctaw and Cherokee Nations each made appropriations for the education of blind Choctaw and Cherokee children. Repeated but unsuccessful efforts were made to have Congress aid the school through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1907 the school became a state-supported institution. For "reasons variously stated," it was moved to Wagoner but soon returned to Fort Gibson.
Miss Rowland, now Mrs. Lowrey, had used her own resources, begged for furniture, and convinced other teachers it was their patriotic duty to help her with her project. In addition, schools from various parts of the United States had helped her from time to time. So frugal was her operation that her financial statement upon her retirement indicated that she had operated the school the first ten years on a total of $15,048.44, besides contributions by various persons, including herself. In those ten years she had held eleven school terms from six weeks to nine months long for a total enrollment of fifty pupils.
Oklahoma's first legislature appropriated $5,000 on May 29, 1908, for the maintenance of the "Lura A. Lowrey School for the Blind," and provided in the same act that the school be under the control of the State Board of Education. As a state institution the school was supported by legislative appropriations, varying from twenty to thirty thousand dollars yearly. A headline in the Muskogee Times-Democrat March 11, 1911, read: "Perry Miller Saves Blind School." Miller had authored a bill in the State House of Representatives to move the Oklahoma School for the Blind. Slid Garrett of Fort Gibson had introduced a similar bill in the State Senate. Mr. Miller knew that if the school was not moved to Muskogee, it would be moved to Tulsa. It remained in temporary quarters at Fort Gibson until June, 1913, when the fourth legislature acted to move it to Muskogee, Oklahoma.
First Cornerstone Auditorium Building Cornerstone Stewart Hall Annex Cornerstone Vintage Postcard Photo
Upon moving the school to Muskogee in 1911, first in a couple of temporary locations locally, the state began construction on several beautiful buildings of English architecture with steep roofs. The tornado of 1945 destroyed most of those roofs, demolished the gymnasium, in which three girls were killed, and wounded several others. In the rebuilding, flat roofs replaced the originals.
The school is outstanding in the annals of education, and brave little Lura Lowrey deserves a great deal of credit for initiating and carrying on such a program. Helen Keller honored the school with a visit February 17, 1915 and was very complimentary of its administration. Superintendent Mrs. O.W. Stewart was voted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame in 1943 as a result of the outstanding record of the school. When Richard Carter retired as superintendent of the school in June 1979, after being associated with the school since 1939, he had completed the longest tenure of any like position in the nation and was considered an authority in the care and the teaching of the blind.
Following is a list of additional historical highlights:
1897 - 1907 Superintendent Mrs. Lura A . Lowrey
1907 - 1911 Superintendent Mr. G.W. Bruce
1911 - 1925 Superintendent Mr. O.W. Stewart
1913 Oklahoma School for the Blind was moved to its present location in June in accordance with an act of the fourth Legislature. An 80 acre tract of land was donated by Governor C.N. Haskell.
1917 The Oklahoma Commission for the Adult Blind was established. The funds and services of this Commission were quite restricted and the primary thrust of the early program was the provision of limited home teaching services to the blind.
1920 The civilian Vocational Rehabilitation Program developed out of the effort to rehabilitate disabled veterans during and after WWI. On June 29, President Woodrow Wilson signed Public Law 66-236, creating the civilian rehabilitation act. This early program was limited in scope with primary services being counseling, guidance, job training and placement.
1920 Fifty acres of land south of the school was donated to the Oklahoma School for the Blind. This land is currently leased by the city of Muskogee and is known as Civitan Park.
1925 The Oklahoma Legislature passed enabling legislation empowering the State Board for Vocational Education to operate with the Federal Board of Vocational Education in the administration of an Act of Congress related to the promotion of vocational rehabilitation of persons disabled in industry or other, and their return to civil employment. However, this program was not funded by state appropriations until 1927.
1925 - 1946 Superintendent Mrs. O.W. Stewart
1935 The Social Security Act provided permanent status for the program, and on April 15, 1937, Oklahoma HB 285, provided that the State Board of Education would accept the stipulations of the Social Security Act and established the agency as a Division of the State Board of Vocational Education.
1936 Federal Legislation, the Randolph-Sheppard Act was passed which gave preference to the blind for concession operations on Federal property, blind individuals would be given priority to operate. This act opened the way for the Oklahoma Commission for the Adult Blind to establish a vending stand program.
The Vending Stand Program contracts for food facility location, designs and installs the necessary equipment, trains and licenses the blind operators, arranges for the initial merchandise and supervises the location and its operations.
1937 Oklahoma House Bill 285 established the agency as a Division of the State Board of Vocational Education and established the Blind Enterprise Program.
1943 Congress authorized the expansion of services to include physical restoration services and services for mentally ill and mentally retarded individuals.
These additional services enabled rehabilitation to serve many individuals that were previously unserved or underserved. In addition to mental health cases, such disabilities as deafness, blindness or severely orthopedically disabled clients could receive services. One example of expansion was the employment of special placement counselors for the blind.
1945 On April 12, Oklahoma School for the Blind was devastated by a tornado, destroying most buildings' roofs , demolishing the gymnasium, killing three girls and injuring several others. School was dismissed for the rest of the year and the following year in order to rebuild the campus.
1946 - 1979 Superintendent Mr. V. R. Carter
1947 The Oklahoma Legislature abolished the Oklahoma Commission for the Adult Blind and transferred its function to the Board of Vocational Education. This Board place the functions of the Commission in the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation. This unit was designated as the Section of Services to the Blind.
1965 The Oklahoma Legislature transferred Oklahoma School for the Blind and Oklahoma School for the Deaf to the Department of Public Welfare, later to be know as the Department of Institution, Social and Rehabilitative Services and later the Department of Human Services.
1968 The Legislature, with the approval of the Governor, transferred the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation and the Section of Services to Blind of the State Board of Vocation Education to the Oklahoma Public Welfare Commission.
Even though the field of rehabilitation made considerable progress from 1947 to 1968 services were limited in Oklahoma because of shortage in funding. This transfer was primarily for the purpose of accessing sufficient state funds to fully match available federal funds. These programs experienced significant expansion and development with the additional resources. In effect the transfer to the Oklahoma Public Welfare Commission gave Services to the Blind separate administrative identity and place it in equal status with the Vocational Rehabilitation Program. This transfer also provided the basis for the development of a strong multi-services program for the blind and visually handicapped under the Department of Human Services, the Division assumed broader responsibilities for disability program through addition of two constitutionally established residential schools and administration of the Social Security Disability Determination Program. During this time a major remodeling project was completed at the school, including the construction of new dormitories and the installation of central heat and air conditioning.
1969 The Oklahoma Legislature transferred the Special Services Section from the Oklahoma Division of Libraries to the Section of Services to the Blind of the Oklahoma Public Welfare Commission. This section became the Oklahoma Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped and is administered as a part of the Visual Services Division. Prior to the transfer, the Library served two states, Arkansas and Oklahoma.
The OLBPH supplies Braille, talking books, taped materials and large print books for blind and physically handicapped Oklahoma. The library has more the 8,000 patrons and circulates more than 250,000 books per year.
1976 By action of the Human Services Commission, the name Parkview School was permitted for educational, custodial and other functions affecting the student body. The legal name, Oklahoma School for the Blind, was retained for use in all other matters affecting the institution.
1976 New construction on the campus of Oklahoma School for the Blind provided the construction of a new residence for the superintendent.
1978-1981 During these years the Vocational Building was renovated and a multihandicapped unit and an early childhood development program were begun.
1979 - 1992 Superintendent Mr. R. M. Casey
1982 The Oklahoma Legislature designated the Oklahoma School for the Blind as a statewide resource for educational and diagnostic services for blind and visually impaired children.
1992 - 1999 Superintendent Mr. Garold Conn
1993 A major event in the long history of rehabilitation services in this state took place on June 11, 1993, when Governor David Walters signed into law Senate Bill 356 which established the Department of Rehabilitation Services in Oklahoma. This act is clear and convincing evidence of the State of Oklahoma's commitment to provide more effective consumer responsive services for its citizens with disabilities. This Department encompasses many of the major services programs for the disability community including Rehabilitative Services, Visual Services, Oklahoma School for the Blind, Oklahoma School for the Deaf, the Disability Determination Program and specialty programs such as vocational evaluations, transitional living training for the deaf, special library services and assistive technology.
1995 The great-great-granddaughter of the school's founder visited the school.
1998 Oklahoma School for the Blind is recognized as a leader in the nation in the education of blind students. It had active Boy Scout and Girl Scout programs for many years and is credited with having the first blind Eagle Scout (Bill Camden) in the United States.
1999-2010 Superintendent Mrs. Karen Kizzia
2010 - 2011 Superintendent Mr. Larry Hawkins (concurrently served OSB and Oklahoma School for the Deaf)
2011 - Present Superintendent Mr. James C. Adams
Source Documents
"A History of the Oklahoma School for the Blind, 1897 - 1969", a document by Cleo Bowman Larason in 1953.
"A School History, 1897 - 1937, of the Oklahoma School for the Blind."
Superintendents
Mrs. Lura A. Lowrey 1897 - 1907
Mr. G.W. Bruce 1907 - 1911
Mr. O.W. Stewart 1911 - 1925
Mrs. O.W. Stewart 1925 - 1946
Mr. V.R. Carter 1946 - 1979
Mr. R.M. Casey 1979 - 1992
Mr. Garold Conn 1992 - 1999
Mrs. Karen Kizzia 1999 - 2010
Mr. Larry Hawkins 2010 - 2011
Mr. James C. Adams 2011 - Present
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