1826 - Jonathan Whipple, of Ledyard, has son born deaf; Whipple develops method to teach son how to speak

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1869 - Grandson Zerah starts Whipple Home School in Ledyard teaching lip reading and the method to sound out words using illustrations of mouth positions in the form of an alphabet

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1872 - State aid is received to help people afford the school

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1875 - Whipples purchase property in Mystic from the

Silas E. Burrows family and the school moves there.

This is the current location of the Mystic Oral School

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1879 - Zerah Whipple dies leading to a troubling

period for the school

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1895 - The state investigates the school and finds 

irregularities 

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1897 - State considers closing the school,

Alexander Graham Bell defends school; Mystic

residents consider becoming incorporators of the school

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1898 - Articles of Association of the Mystic Oral School

for the Deaf Corporation were created - enrollment 34

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1900 - Addition added to the existing building

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1902 - Electricity and telephone added

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1909 - State appropriates funds for a new dormitory,

opens in 1910

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1912 - Enrollment 62

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1919 - State buys school for $20,000

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1925 - New dormitory added

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1928 - Enrollment 115

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1942 - Enrollment 161

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1947 - Nursery school added

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1959 - School becomes part of State Board of Education

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1970 - Senior high school established

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1980 - State closes school

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2011 - State closes campus

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Note: It took a good pupil 10 years to complete the

course of study, for many it took longer. As well as

the main speech training, academic and vocational

education was also provided

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Information courtesy of Mystic River Historical Society

as follows and Town of Groton:

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Barbara Bronson, 'A History of the Mystic Oral School for the Deaf', June 1968

Harold Hornstein, 'The Quaker Who Launched Mystic Oral School, New Haven Register,

22 September 1974

Robert H. Hamilton, The Mystic Oral School, Past-Present-Future, June 1975

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