Illinois School For Deaf

The Illinois School for the Deaf was founded in 1839 and built in 1846 for people with hearing loss. This idea began with Senator Orville Browning, who proposed a bill to build the school for the deaf when he met a deaf man from Kentucky. The story has it that Orville Browning wanted to meet with this man and they met on a steamboat that was crossing the Mississippi River. Browning wanted to figure out how this deaf man was able to get a good education while being deaf. The man told Browning that there were deaf schools around where he lived so he could higher his education and that brought the attention to Browning to build this school for those deaf people to get an education. Once the bill was passed, Governor Carlin crated a board of Trustees to build the building. The school represents the local community treating everyone fairly to allow any person in this area to get a higher education even if they were deaf. Abraham Lincoln was believed to support and pass this bill. This had a grater impact on the location being in Jacksonville, IL because Lincoln was believed to have come to Jacksonville to get his books from the Illinois College library for increasing his education. 

ISD got introduced to football starting in 1948 with just eleven players. They had six wins, one loss and tied a game that they shouldn't have. A man named Jerry Tuchman was interviewed and asked several things about the first football team that ISD ever had. He said that the 1948 football team should've made it in the Guinness Book of World Records because they were believed to be the only deaf school to have such a successful season and one of the first deaf teams to ever play the game. However, to be put in the Guinness Book of World Records, he would have to pay a 500 dollar entry fee. The remaining boys' sports that are played at ISD are basketball and track & field. The girls' sports include basketball, competitive cheer, track & field, and last but not least volleyball. It is very interesting watching how the students at this school communicate in sports. They all are on the same page just by certain signals they do with their hands instead of key words like other people use.

ISD stands for the equality for everyone to get an education. This is important to know about today because it was one of the base schools that helped make up what Jacksonville has become . There are various photographs of what the building looked like when it was first built. There are also pictures of the building being renovated and expanded on and will be one of the well known historical places in the city of Jacksonville. This is definitely a place you should visit to increase your own education in how these students learn and for you to also learn some sign language as well.