In 1833, John Jacobus Flournoy, a deaf man of Jackson County and great-grandson of the French Huguenot Jacob Flournoy, urged education for the deaf and interested Governor Wilson Lumpkin and the Georgia Legislature in that movement. At first, the few pupils were sent to the American Asylum for Deaf and Dumb in Hartford, Conn., but distance, weather, and the youth of the pupils made that arrangement unsatisfactory. On May 15, 1846, with four pupils in a log cabin and O.P. Fannin as teacher, the school began as part of the Hearn Manual School at Cave Spring, Georgia. It grew rapidly, and in 1847 a brick building was erected and dedicated, with other additions made later. The school was closed during the War Between the States and used as a hospital by both Confederate and Union forces. It resumed operations in February 1867 and remained supported by the State of Georgia. In 1955, it had 82 teachers and employees and an income of more than $500,000.