American School for the Deaf.

About American School for the Deaf

The American School for the Deaf (ASD), originally The Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons, is the oldest permanent K-12 school for the deaf in the United States, and the first school for deaf children anywhere in the western hemisphere. It was founded April 15, 1817, in Hartford, Connecticut, by Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, Mason Cogswell, and Laurent Clerc and became a state-supported school later that year. Asylum Street, in Hartford, and Asylum Avenue, in Hartford and West Hartford, were named for the school.