504 A SKETCH OF EDUCATION IX SOUTH CAROLINA. 



BUILDINGS AND GROUNDS. 



The seminary occupies a square of four acres, in the heart of Columbia. 

 The buildings are of brick, three stories in height, and substantial. The 

 campus is shaded with trees of native growth. 



INSTITUTION FOR THE DEAF, DUMB, AND BLIND. 



Prior to the year 1849, deaf, dumb, and blind children were sent to 

 the American asylum, at Hartford, Connecticut. In that year, seven 

 pupils were in attendance from the " upper division of South Carolina,'" 

 at a cost of $421. At that time a private school for mutes was estab- 

 lished at Cedar Springs, Spartanburg, by Mr. N. P. Walker. The location 

 was five miles from the courthouse, on a hill, from the foot of which 

 gushed a beautiful, cold spring. Five pupils were in attendance, all 

 fi-om Spartanburg district. Hon. T. N. Dawkins, commissioner of the 

 ► deaf, dumb, and blind, was so favorably impressed with the advantages 

 of this institution that he recommended it specially to the attention of 

 the Legislature, besides paying to it $250, and providing for tw^o more 

 beneficiaries. In 1850, Gov. Seabrook called attention to the fact that 

 out of seventy mutes in the State, only thirteen were receiving instruc- 

 tion. The Legislature resolved to send no more pupils abroad, and ap- 

 propriated $3,000 for instruction, but refused to make the school a State 

 institution. The appropriation was increased to §5,000, in 1855, and a 

 school for the blind was added by Prof. Walker. A Board of Commis- 

 sioners was appointed to negotiate for the purchase of the property by 

 the State, and the transfer was made in 1857. §10,000 were appropriated 

 for buildings, and $7,000 for instruction. $20,000 more were appropri- 

 ated, in 1858, for the completion of the buildings, and in 1860, they were 

 ready for occupancy. Sixteen mutes, and seventeen blind pupils were in 

 attendance. 



On the 13th November, 1861, Prof. Walker's death closed his useful 

 labors, and his duties devolved on JMrs. Walker and the faculty ; Prof. 

 Henderson (blind) being in charge of the school for the blind, while the 

 department for the deaf and dumb was presided over by Prof Ilughston, 

 himself one of the late Prof. AValker's first mute pupils. The institution 

 received annually from $7,000 up to $15,000, in 1863. Until 1863, the 

 total appropriation had never been expended. 



The school was closed in the beginning of 1865, but in the fall of 1866, 

 the exercises were resumed for a single session. Prof. Hughston had 

 been elected superintendent after the death of Prof. Walker. In 1869, 

 the institution was reopened. Prof. Xewton F. Walker, son of the found- 



