St. Joseph's Institute for the Improved Instruction of Deaf-Mutes

c. 1874 - ?

Founded in 1874 as a branch of a larger institution of the same (which is still in operation) in Fordham, Brooklyn's St. Joseph Institute for the Improved Instruction of Deaf-Mutes was headed at the turn of the century by experienced deaf educator, Miss Margaret Cosgrove. The flagship branch in The Bronx was headed by French Catholic educator Madame Victorine Boucher, who sought to replicate the success of yet another institute of the same name upstate, in Buffalo, New York. In terms of instruction, these institutes for deaf instruction used three methods: a manual method (using sign language), an oral method (primarily lip reading), and a combined method. By 1888, the oral method was almost universally preferred and touted as having the best results - to the extent that older pupils who knew sign language were purposely separated fro younger pupils instructed solely in the oral method. The all-girls Brooklyn campus was first housed at a small facility on Union Street, then moved to the "old Jones mansion" on 510 Henry Street in 1876, and finally outgrew that space and found its final home at the intersection of Bergen Street and Buffalo Avenue in the Crown Heights/Weeksville neighborhood in1889 where upwards of fifty students received care and instruction. The three-story building was described as "a plain, substantial structure of brick with brown stone and terra cotta trimmings and Renaissance in style," complete with a basement and sub-cellar. The school had an incredible amount of amenities, including but not limited to an exhibition room, library, multiple parlors, a sewing room, a chapel, and dormitories and infirmaries for both students and teachers. Records detailing school expenditures have been found in archival ledgers, however a comprehensive history of this institution - especially its closing and demolition - haven't been found, nor any archival photographs of the edifice.