Historedia
Episode 2 of 2

Opening of the Connecticut Asylum

When
15 April 1817
Where
Bennet's City Hotel
Part of
American School for the Deaf opens in Hartford, Connecticut

The Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons opened in Hartford on April 15, 1817, with seven students enrolled.

The school opened in the old Bennet's City Hotel in Hartford. It was founded by Gallaudet, Cogswell, and Clerc. The initial enrollment included Alice Cogswell, George Loring, Wilson Whiton, Abigail Dillingham, Otis Waters, John Brewster Jr., and Nancy Orr. The institution later became known as the American School for the Deaf.

Sources

  1. American School for the Deaf Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-27
  2. Laurent Clerc Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-04
  3. Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-02

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.