Governor Morehead School celebrates 160th Anniversary

Sculpture unveiled

On May 12 the Governor Morehead School (GMS) celebrated its 160th year of serving North Carolina’s children who are blind or visually impaired.

Students, staff, guests and friends of the GMS community gathered in an afternoon ceremony to celebrate the school’s long history and to dedicate a sculpture of Louis Braille that was donated to the school by Charlotte businessman Irwin “Ike” Belk.

“I would like to thank Ike for his generous donation to our school,” said Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Carmen Hooker Odom. “This sculpture will, I’m sure, be enjoyed by our students, staff and guest for many, many years to come.”

The sculpture is mounted in the Martha Frank Fragrance Garden on the GMS campus. The garden is a project of the North Carolina Garden Club and serves as a sensory and tactile learning experience for the students.

“We decided to make a bronze statue of Louis Braille and place it in the Martha Franck Fragrance Garden so that visitors to our campus, as well as our students and staff could enjoy it,” said Office of Education Services Superintendent Cyndie Bennett.

“The profile of Louis Braille is a detailed raised sculpture that the children can touch and easily distinguish the details of his face. The inscription is written in English and raised Braille dots. Even 150 years after Braille developed his basic system of six dots, its benefits to the blind remain unmatched by any later technology.”

The statue was created by artist Jon Hair and reads:

Louis Braille 1809-1852
Born in Coupvray, France, Louis Braille was blinded by an accident at the age of three. He triumphed over his disability, becoming an accomplished teacher, musician, author, and inventor. His most important contribution is the Braille system of reading and writing for the blind. He is buried in the Pantheon in Paris.

“I commend the sculptor, Jon Hair, for his fine craftsmanship,” said Bennett. “He is the official sculptor of the U.S. Olympic Team, and his work has been commissioned by the U.S. Air Force Academy, Purdue University and the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. We are thrilled to have a piece of his work on our campus.”

The Governor Morehead School has a rich history of serving children with disabilities. Originally known as the North Carolina Institution for Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind, it operated from a rented building on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh in 1845.

The school has always been responsive to the needs of North Carolina, changing the scope and breath of services based on the deaf and blind populations in the state.

Historically, there were several campuses, with the campus on Ashe Avenue becoming the official site for the school in 1923. The name was changed to the Governor Morehead School for the Blind when it was integrated with the Garner Road School in 1964.

GMS currently serves as a resource center for all blind children in North Carolina. The K-12 program is on the Ashe Avenue campus and serves children from across the state.

The GMS Outreach program has provided services in 81 counties this school year – through low vision assessments, teacher training, demonstration teaching and observations. The program also provides week-long short-term sessions for public school students who need intensive work in vision-specific areas.

The Governor Morehead Preschool program has also served more than 680 children from birth to five years old this school year through its satellite programs across the state that enable children with vision disabilities to transition successfully to public schools in their home communities.

“Educating North Carolina’s children who are blind and visually impaired has been and will continue to be the work of Governor Morehead School for many years to come,” said Bennett.

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Last Modified: May 31, 2005