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 on June 11, 1914.

 

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.