Minnesota State Schools

During its first session in 1858, the Minnesota State Legislature established the first of several schools to train and care for citizens with mental and physical disabilities and for children unable to care for themselves. The first school opened in Fairbault in 1863 after five years of delay caused by lack of funds. Known successively as an Asylum, an Institute, and an Academy, it served students who were blind and deaf. Separate schools were later established there for the blind, the deaf, and the mentally deficient. In 1885, a State School for Dependent and Neglected Children opened in Owatonna. Although it closed in 1970, the Fairbault schools continued to function. These schools resembled Minnesota state hospitals and correctional facilities in both style and plan, with typical complexes including separate buildings for administration, classrooms, a gymnasium, a hospital, dormitories, and service facilities such as a power plant, a laundry, and farm buildings. Their farms helped make the schools partially self-sufficient. Established by law, the schools were intended to provide activities and training while protecting students from the "slights and rebuffs" of the outside world. The first clinical psychologist employed in a mental retardation institute in the United States worked at the Fairbault State School; A.R.T. Wylie was that pioneer in mental health research. Several school buildings in Fairbault and Owatonna are listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and the Owatonna complex continues to serve the public through city offices, an art center, a museum interpreting the state school, and other uses.

Minnesota · United States