Arkansas School for the Blind
& Gravel Ridge Lions Club

We Can Do This!

The Gravel Ridge Lions Club accepted the challenge to sponsor a service project of refurbishing and/or replacing the Arkansas School for the Blind Playground Equipment. We are currently having ongoing fundraisers to help purchase the playground equipment.

The playground was built in 1987 and is in need of replacing. A dead tree fell and broke the slide on the current playground. All of the wood on the current gym equipment is cracked and jagged and presents a safety hazard for all of the children that attend the school. The playground surface is very uneven, causing a walking hazard for the blind children..
This playground equipment will serve children throughout Arkansas who attend the School for the Blind. The Arkansas School for the Blind offers statewide quality educational programs and resources to students who are blind or visually impaired, birth through twenty-one years. This enables them to become productive, self-sufficient citizens through the involvement of all students, staff, parents and the community.
Established in 1859, The School for the Blind has completed more than a century of service to the Blind and visually impaired youth of the state. The school is located at 2600 West Markham in Little Rock, Arkansas. This playground equipment will serve children throughout Arkansas who attend the School for the Blind.
The Arkansas School for the Blind offers elementary and secondary educational programs which are fully accredited by North Central and meets all standards of the Arkansas Department of Education. In addition, the school provides Braille text books and teaches (850) students throughout the state of Arkansas who are blind and visually impaired.
Courses are also offered in mobility, independent living skills, and daily living skills and in adaptive technology. The school has an extensive preschool program and comprehensive recreational and athletic programs especially adapted for blind and visually impaired students. Arkansas School for the Blind is a residential school, and no charge is made for room, board or tuition.

 History of the Arkansas School for the Blind

In 1959 to serve the visually impaired youth of Arkansas. The sThe Arkansas School for the Blind was established chool was first located in Arkadelphia near what is now Ouachita Baptist University. In September of 1963, the trustees authorized Professor Patten to close the intuition because of the unsettled condition of the country brought about by the Civil War. The students were sent home, the rental property was relinquished, and the furniture and equipment were sold to pay the debts of the school. The school was reopened Arkadelphia in February 1867 unite the close of the school year in the spring of 1868 when it was donated to the City of Arkadelphia and the school was moved to Little Rock.

In the fall of 1868 the schools opened for the first time in Little Rock at a sit know as “Rosewood’ a short distance south of Fort Steel. It was later moved to the head of Center Street, which is currently the location of the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion.

On October 9, 1939, the cornerstone at the new Arkansas School for the Blind, located on West Markham Street, was placed by the Grand Lodge of Arkansas, F. % A.M., with Acting Grand Master C. Eugene Smith, Jr. directing the Masonic ceremony. The speaker at the dedication ceremony was Miss Helen Kellar. The formal name of what is commonly referred to as the “Main Building? Is the “Helen Keller Building”. This building and the ones directly behind it were built as a WPA project.

The campus comprises 40.4 acres and consists of 16 buildings. In 1963 the School opened a facility on campus to serve the multi-handicapped children of Arkansas. This was formerly the home of the dependents of Confederate veteran of the State. The Arkansas School for the Blind is accredited by the North Central Association of College and Schools. It is State supported and is governed by a five member Board of Trustees appointed by the Governor.

The Arkansas School for the Blind provided for the education of visually impaired children in Arkansas. Because of the individual needs of children, the school serves residential students, day students and student enrolled in public schools.