Fact Sheet / Milestones

1904

  • Colonel Austine donates funds to establish community institution.
  • VT Legislation (Act No. 276) incorporates “The Austine Sanitarium”.

 

1908

  • VT Legislation (Act No. 3) changes name to “The Austine School”.

 

1910

  • VT Legislation (Act No. 74) makes appropriation of $50,000 to the Austine School.

 

1912

  • Austine School opens with 16 students.
  • Miss Helen Throck Morton, 1st Headmistress.

 

1914

  • Alexander Graham Bell gives commencement address.

 

1920

  • Mr. James Weaver, 2nd Headmaster.

 

1923

  • Miss Dorothy Foster, 3rd Headmistress.

 

1929

  • Mrs. Edith Burbank, 4th Headmistress.

 

1939

  • Mr. K. D. Sanders, 5th Headmaster.

 

1948

  • Mrs. Edith Burbank, 6th Headmistress.

 

1951

  • Miss Mildred O’Neal, 7th Headmistress.

 

1955

  • Elementary School constructed with private funds/VT Legislation (Act No. 205).

 

1958

  • Mr. J. Jay Farman, 8th Headmaster.

 

1963

  • High School wing added.

 

1964

  • Caption Films Depository established.

 

1965

  • Mr. Richard Lane, 9th Headmaster.
  • High School Boys dormitory built.

 

1968

  • High School Girls dormitory built.
  • Awarding of diplomas for High School program established.

 

1969

  • Vermont Hall constructed/appropriation VT Legislation (Act No. 239) for $1,100,000.

 

1970

  • Soccer program started at Austine School.

 

1971

  • First Austine Archer Yearbook produced.

 

1974

  • Austine enrollment reaches its peak at 147 students.

 

1978

  • Austine Audiology/Evaluation Center established.

 

1987

  • Dr. Raymond P. Stevens, 10th Headmaster.

 

1988

  • First Vermont TTY Relay established and located on Austine campus.

 

1989

  • Wheeler House program established.
  • Parent-Infant Program established.

 

1990

  • Hilltop Montessori School, K-5 relocates on the Austine campus.

 

1991

  • Susan Sien, 11th Headmistress, 1st Deaf Executive Director.
  • Project Adventure (High Five) relocates offices to the Austine campus.

 

1992

  • Austine Leadership and Literacy Camp established.
  • Career / Vocational Center and Wheeler Community Project established.
  • Assistive Technology Grant received to set up Equipment Loaner Center.

 

1993

  • VT Interpreter Referral Service (VIRS) established and located on Austine Campus.

 

1994

  • Holton Hall renovations funded VT Legislation (Act No. 233) for $300,000.
  • Holton Hall renovations begins ground floor/1st floor.
  • Wheeler Community Project receives $370,000 Federal Grant.
  • Austine and the Lions Club of Vermont summer camps merge.

 

1997

  • Dr. Patrick Schrader, 12th Headmaster, 1st President of Vermont Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (VCDHH).

 

1998

  • Vermont Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing established (VCDHH).
  • Regional Day Program in Williston established.
  • Regional Consultants-consolidated under VCDHH by Department of Education grant.
  • Deaf Vermonters Advocacy Service (DVAS) is established from State of VT grant.

 

1999

  • Holton Hall renovations funded by VT Legislation (Act No. 29) for $75,000.

 

2000

  • Regional Day Program in Bennington established.
  • Holton Hall renovations funded by VT Legislation (Act No. 148) for $75,000.

 

2001

  • Holton Hall renovations funded by VT Legislation (Act No. ) for $650,000.
  • Lions Clubs and Austine work together to build five (5) cabins on campus.

 

2002

  • Croker Hall renovated by private/commercial financing.
  • Holton Hall renovations funded by VT Legislation (Act No. ) for $575,000.

 

2003

  • Interactive Learning Network (Federal Grant Award) established.
  • Northeast Technical Assistant Center established in Vermont on Austine Campus.
  • Edward F. Peltier, 13th Headmaster, 2nd President of VCDHH.

 

2004

  • Holton Hall renovation complete for exterior and 2nd floor.
  • Austine celebrates 100th year Anniversary.
  • 1st Proudfoot Greenup day celebrated.
  • Northern Vermont Resource Center is established.
  • Lions Clubs build pavilion on Austine Campus at campsite.
  • William Center program is established by Dr. Stevens.

 

2005

  • VCDHH granted the Equipment Distribution program for State of VT.
  • Intensive Case Management (ICM) for Southern Vermont, grant is awarded and services established.

 

2006

  • Deaf Vermonters Advocacy Service is granted by federal Justice Department for outreach.

 

2007

  • 2007 Robert W. Carter, 14th Headmaster, 3rd President of VCDHH.