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 in 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 educating the blind. By l881 enrolment had risen to 201. Renamed the Ontario School for the Blind in 1913, it later became The W. Ross MacDonald in honour of Ontario's Lieutenant-Governor.

Location

Near Heritage House, on the grounds of the school, now the W. Ross Macdonald School, St. Paul Avenue, Brantford

Themes

• Buildings and structures
• Education