Ontario School for the Blind

Ontario's Provincial Plaques

Here's where you can learn a little Ontario history.

The Ontario School for the Blind

Photo by Alan L Brown - June 1, 2005

Plaque Location

The City of Brantford
On the north side of St. Paul Avenue across from Palmerston Avenue west of Brant Avenue

Plaque Text

In 1869, on the recommendation of the Rev. Egerton Ryerson, Superintendent of Education, funds were allocated to establish the first provincial school for blind children. The Ontario Institution for the Education of the Blind, which included the nearby gate-keepers lodge, opened on May 1, 1872, with eleven students. Under its first Principal, Dr. E. S. Wiggins, the residential institution combined elementary school subjects with manual and vocational training, and soon gained recognition for its contribution to the theory and practice of education the blind. By 1881 enrollment had risen to 201. Renamed the Ontario School for the Blind in 1913, it later introduced secondary school courses and in 1974 became The W. Ross Macdonald School in honour of Ontario's Lieutenant-Governor.

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