VSDB History
Marshall Jordan
Fred Evans - N4KYM
| This is still more one sided to the Deaf Department. I don't see anything about the Wresteling Team. Still some interesting reading though. All of my experience at and with vsdb starts in the mid 60's. Shinpaugh was the Super and Abernathy the Dean of Students. They replaced her with 5 people for fewer students. Now thats the modern day work force for ya. !! Grin Fred Evans Class of 72 --- On Fri, 11/23/12, Marshall Jordan <marshal...@verizon.net> wrote: |
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Jordan, Marshall I. (DBVI)
I have combined the three files of VSDB history from the VSDB Student Website and present the combined information here for your convenience.
Marshall Jordan
Class of 1963
VSDB History
1838-1839: Dr. Lewis W. Chamberlayne of Richmond (for the Deaf) and Rev. William Swan Plumber of Petersburg (for the Blind) worked together and won (1839). Dr. Chamberlayne had two deaf sons. (Source: Mr. Bass). These two men were most active in getting the General Assembly of 1839 to pass the bill to establish the school for the Deaf and the Blind. Finally on March 31, 1838, the General Assembly passed the bill and VSDB was born.
NOVEMBER 15, 1839: VSDB officially opens. FIRST TEACHER Job Turner was appointed teacher in the department for the Deaf and Dr. Merillat in the Department for the Blind.
NOVEMBER 30, 1839: The first student (deaf female), Elizabeth Baker was admitted.
DECEMBER 2, 1839: First deaf male student, Robert Foley was admitted.
DECEMBER 18, 1839: First blind female student, Minerva Wooddy was admitted.
January 1840: First blind male student, Henry J. Gray was admitted.
JULY 9 1840: Cornerstone for Main Hall was laid. Robert Cary Long designed Main Hall. Robert Long, a distinguished architect of Baltimore, was employed to visit the site selected and furnish a complete and minute plan of the buildings to be erected. The choice of Mr. Long as an architect was a wise one, for probably no other architect of the day could have been so fortunate in blending entire convenience of arrangement with a high degree of architectural beauty. He completed Main Hall. Unfortunately Mr. Longs life was cut short when he suddenly died of cholera at Morristown, N.J. He was only 39 years old.
1841 - Robert Mallory Foley (first student admitted in this school) died on Sept. 20, 1841. Buried in the Trinity Churchyard of Staunton, VA. The Board of Visitors paid for his burial and tombstone.
1845 - SEPTEMBER 1845: Main Hall was completed. The building sets on top of the hill facing south and surrounded by trees, which in the winter protects from the harsh winds and in the summer shades the walks. It is close to town yet has a country residence. The building is made of brick and stands four stories high. There is a main building with a portico with six Doric order columns with two wings each with piazza ten feet wide for the exercise for the pupils. The basement story contains; the kitchen, servants rooms, other offices for the large establishment, four large and two small dining rooms, a room temporarily used for a printing office, two rooms for bathing and two rooms for washing purposes. All apartments are supplied with cold and warm water. The warm water is supplied by a steam generator in the kitchen and supplies all the steam need for culinary purposes. The first floor has a beautiful furnished parlor and library, two offices (one for the principal of each department), four large schoolroom connected in pairs by folding door, four recitation rooms, and one large exhibition room. The second floor and attic story there are eight dormitories each capable of containing twenty beds, sixteen chambers for containing the officers two large rooms with cases of drawers and wardrobes for the clothing of the pupil and a sewing room, where deaf mute girls make and mend the clothing of pupils. Beside numerous apartments there is in each story a large passage. The building is heated in the winter by three furnaces and is amply provided with ventilators.
1851: Library was set up in Main Hall.
1851: Gas lamps replace the lard lamps and candles. Oil and lard lamps were found to be most impractical and unsatisfactory.
1852: Boiler House was erected on east side of Main Hall.
1852: Rev. Joseph Dennie Tyler, Principal (Superintendent) of Department of the Deaf died January 29, 1852. He was buried in the Trinity Churchyard of Staunton, VA. His death at the early age of 48, after an illness of only two weeks, cast a gloom over the town, according to the reports in the Staunton Spectator of February 4, 1852 (source: Mr. Bass). After the death of Joseph D. Tyler, Dr. John Charles Martin Merillat (Supt. Of the blind department) became Principal (Superintendent) of both Departments.
1853: Main Hall is restructured. The males occupy the east wing and the females occupy the west wing. The deaf students are on the northern side of the building and the blind students are on the southern side of the building. Basement contained the dining rooms, kitchen, and household apartments. First floor contain schoolrooms, sitting rooms, recitation rooms, and others. Second and third floor are for chambers, clothing rooms, and sick rooms and pupils bedrooms. They are large and airy. They are heated in the winter by warm air.
1854: Chapel is erected. (Source: Mr. Bass).
1855: Chapel completed.
OCTOBER 29, 1858: A fire broke out in the bottom rooms of the Chapel and was put out quickly. Some of the old records were lost.
OCTOBER 18,1858: First vocational building was destroyed by fire. (Source: Mr. Bass).
1859: Second vocational building was erected. It was located near the shoe shop on the north side of Swanson Hall.
DECEMBER 1860: Virginia seceded from the Union.
FEBRUARY 1861: Confederate States of America is formed.
APRIL 12, 1861: Civil War begins.
JULY 1861: Governor of Virginia issued an order transferring students (78 students) and teachers to the building of the Virginia Female Institute, now Stuart Hall, and surrendering the institution buildings to the Confederate States for a military hospital. Mr. Covell, in the meantime, acting upon authority of the Board, tried to pay the Virginia Female Institute the sum of $3,160 for rent of its building from July 1861 to October, 1863, at the rate of $1,440 per years set by the assessors. This payment was declined by the girls school on the grounds that its building were taken without warrant of law, and were held against its consent, and it was unwilling to do anything which would place it in the position of recognizing the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind as tenants. (Source: Mr. Bass).
JULY 19, 1861: The troop took possession of the school. (Source: Mr. Bass).
1861: The Chapel became the operating room of the hospital. The basement of Main Hall was turned into a morgue.
1861: Dr. Jean Merillat becomes a surgeon for the hospital with the approval of the Board of Visitors.
1862: Dr. Jean Merillat resigned as principal of VSDB to take up military duties and was succeeded by Major John Collins Covell, his brother-in-law.
1862: Major John Collins Covell became second principal of the school.
1863: Virginia split into two states and West Virginia was born. West Virginia came under President Abraham Lincoln (North) and Virginia came under President Jefferson Davis (South).
1864: A large lot in the Thornrose Cemetery was purchased for the School.
SPRING 1864: With 50 pupils the institution was conducted in as favorable a manner as circumstances would permit until the latter part of the spring of 1864 when a serious interruption occurred with the occupation of Staunton by United States troops. (Source: Mr. Bass).
APRIL 9, 1865: Lee surrenders in Virginia and Civil War is ended.
MAY 1865: The principal was permitted by the United States officer then in command to return and take possession of such portions of the buildings of the institutions as were no longer needed for hospital purposes. Only a short time elapsed after that before all the movable property belonging to the institution had been transferred to it own premises.
OCTOBER 1, 1865: The school was again put in operation with the full corps of officer.
1867: Steps replaced in front of Main Hall with black walnut wood.
1867: In Principal (Superintendent) Covells report: First proposal for a school for black deaf students. I believe the time has arrived when the State should take into consideration the establishing of an institution for the blind and deaf-mute colored people within her border, either at Lynchburg or Richmond.
1869: North Carolina becomes the first state to provide an institution for the education of black deaf children. The school is named the Governor Morehead School. There was none for the black children in Virginia.
1870: West Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind was established. Professor H.H. Johnson was instrumental in the establishment of WVSDB. He was blind. He attended VSDB.
1870: The school purchased Eastwood adding 5 ½ to 6 acres to the grounds.
1871: Principal Covell resigned to go to West Virginia School for the Deaf.
1871: Captain Charles D. McCoy became third principal of the school.
1874: The Goodson Gazette newspaper was formed. (Source: Mr. Bass). A printing press was acquired and placed in the second (?) vocational building.
1875: The Laundry House was erected. (Source: Mr. Bass). It also contained a coal bin.
1876: New bell placed on the Chapel porch. It was used to call the pupils to work and ran out the passing hours.
1876: New gates were placed at the entrance of the institution. The gates were locked every night.
1876: Dining Hall/Infirmary Building and kitchen staff house was erected. (Source: Mr. Bass).
1877: New fountains completed new iron railings placed around the pool in the front yard.
1877: First fire department at school was organized.
1877: The newspaper, Twin Fountains, was organized.
1879: Principal McCoy died September 11, 1879.
1879: Leonidas Poyntz, A.B. became fourth principal of the school.
1880: In Milan, Italy an international conference of deaf educators convened. They passed a resolution banning sign language. This single event greatly impacted the lives of the Deaf. It almost destroyed sign language. Along with Gallaudet College, VSDB resisted and allowed sign language.
1880: Captain Thomas Doyle became fifth principal of the school.
1882: Dr. William Ryland Vaugh, M.D., A.M. became sixth principal of the school.
1883 Charles S. Roller became the seventh principal of the school.
1883: The baseball team for the Deaf was organized.
1884: The girls calisthenics team for the Deaf was organized.
1884: Captain Thomas Doyle (again) became the eighth principal of the school.
1884: Several new trees arrived from Pratts nurseries in Rochester New York arrived and were planted in the front ground.
1884: New fountain placed just off the drive in front of Main Hall.
NOVEMBER 13, 1886: New telephones put in position.
1887: New mailbox placed in front of school entrance.
1888: The Asteroid newspaper was organized.
SEPTEMBER 1896: A destructive flood, Great Flood hit the city. The school garden was covered by about four feet of water, the water main was broken, the fence lost, and soil and levees washed away. The overall damaged was estimated at $1,500.
1896: The title of principal was changed to superintendent.
1896: William A. Bowles became the ninth superintendent of the school.
1898: The name of the school was changed from The Virginia Institution for the Education of the Deaf and Dumb and the Blind to The Virginia School for the Education of the Deaf and the Blind.
1898: The school was placed under the Board of Education.
1898: The first cooking class began. Miss Mary T. Dowd was the first teacher (1898 to 1901).
1898: Tyler Hall, dorm for blind boys, was erected. It was named after the Virginia governor, James Hugh Tyler (1898- 1902.
1899: The name of the school was changed from The Virginia School for the Education of the Deaf and the Blind to The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind.
1902: Montague Hall, dormitory for blind girls, was erected. It was named after the Virginia governor, Andrew Jackson Montague (1902-1906). Blind girls dormitory, dining hall and gymnasium for girls.
1905: VSDB replaced gaslights to electric lights.
1906: Uncle Dennis Shafer, an old colored man (and an ex-slave), had been employed in this school since 1865. Uncle Dennis remembered well when this school was first established in 1839, in old brown house near the Baltimore and Ohio Depot. It was afterward removed to a frame building which stood where Wilkes furniture store, then from there moved to its present location.
1906: The school purchased more land, 49.22 acres, east of the corporate limits of the City of Staunton. It was known as Persimmon Hill.
1906: Dairy barn was erected.
1907: For the Jamestown Exposition, Rueben Weaver and his class constructed a large colonial dollhouse. They won first place! The dollhouse is still in the VSDB Museum.
1908: The name of the newspaper, Goodson Gazette, was changed to Virginia Guide.
1908: Swanson Hall was erected. It was named after the Virginia governor, Charles Swanson (1906-1910). Classrooms for Deaf Department.
1908: VSDBs sister school for black students were erected in Newport News, Virginia.
1909: New covered bridge connecting Swanson Hall to Tyler Hall to Main Hall and to Montague Hall was completed.
SEPTEMBER 15, 1910: Uncle Dennis Shafer an old colored servant (and an ex-slave), who had been employed in this school for forty-five years, died in July, aged about 85 years. (Shafter Maintenance Complex was named in honor of this man, Uncle Dennis in 2008).
1911: 100 square yards of concrete was put down on the courtyard covering the pond between Swanson Hall, Chapel and Main Hall.
1913: A fire alarm box was placed on the porch near the pupils dining hall connecting with the city fire department. The Staunton Fire Department could respond in 4 minutes from the time it was sounded.
1913: Ugite and fine stones dressed VSDB driveways.
1914: WORLD WAR 1 began.
1914: Second vocational building was razed. Printing press moved to Tyler Hall.
1914: Stuart Hall, third vocational building, was erected. It was named after the Virginia governor, Henry Carter Stuart (1914-1918). It had a woodshop for the deaf. The swimming pool is in the basement.
1918: WORLD WAR 1 ended.
1918: VSDB acquired more land (150 acres) about one anda half miles southwest of the Staunton City known as Paris Farm.
1919: Mr. Howard M. McManaway became the tenth superintendent of the school. McManaway embraced the Milan resolution and banned sign language at VSDB. For the next 20 years, deaf students suffered.
1921: The boys basketball team for the Deaf was organized.
1924: The girls basketball team for the Deaf was organized.
1924: For many years, the deaf and the blind schools wanted to separate. The proposal to separate schools was proposed by Herbert J. Taylor. The deaf school was to remain in Staunton and the blind school was to locate on a property near University of Virginia. Many people became involved in this move including Helen Keller. The General Assembly approved the bill. Everyone was rejoiced. When the bill was introduced to gain funding to build the school, it was rejected. It was a bitter defeat for everyone. The move was tried again and again. Finally it was abandoned and the property near University of Virginia was sold in 1998.
1925: Boy Scouts was organized in this school.
1925: Camp Fire Girls were organized in this school.
1927: The Boy Scouts Troop 2 received Charter.
1928: Byrd Hall for elementary deaf students was erected. It was named after the Virginia governor, Harry Byrd (also a senator). Covered bridge was extended to Byrd Hall. It was for the Deaf Department with classrooms and dorm for elementary boys and girls.
1929: 4-H Club for the deaf girls was organized in this school.
1931: Boy Scouts Troop No. 2 put up flagpole on the schools campus.
1931: Tyler Hall was discovered to be condemned. 31 blind boys were quickly evacuated to temporarily reside in Chapel.
1932: The Dairy barn caught on fire and was destroyed.
1933: The name, Main Street, was changed to Beverly Street.
1933: Print shop moved to under the Chapel from Tyler Hall.
1934: Concrete floor was put in bottom of Main Hall. Boy Scout room was placed in bottom of Main Hall. It was in log cabin style.
1934: Tyler Hall was razed.
1934: Superintendent House was completed and occupied on November 24, 1934.
1935: Peery Hall was erected. It was named after the Virginia governor, George C. Peery (1934-1938). It was classrooms and dormitories for Blind boys.
1936: West wing of Main Hall was remodeled. Deaf girls were moved to Montague Hall.
1936: East wing of Main Hall was remodeled. Deaf boys were moved to west wing.
1936: VSDB installed sprinklers throughout the school.
1936: Steam pipes connecting VSDB to Western State Hospital were installed.
1937: Old boiler house razed.
1937: Old dairy barn was razed. It had been damaged by fire in 1932.
1938: Garages were put in place of the old boiler house.
1938: Old entrance gateposts were pulled down, and gray stone posts were replaced.
1938: The pretty fountain in the front lawn, in the center of the circular roadway, was removed.
1939: Joseph Ewart Healy became the eleventh superintendent of the school. The ban was lifted and sign language was allowed at VSDB.
1939: VSDB celebrated being 100 years old.
1939: Electric lights are put in the old gas lampposts at each end of the porch of Main Hall.
1939: Gray stonewall from gate to superintendents house down old New Hope Road to greenhouse was installed.
1939: First Annual Homecoming Day observed at VSDB October 21st. Football game with the West Virginia School for the Deaf.
SEPTEMBER 1, 1939: WORLD WAR 2 began.
1940: VSDB put the water tower up for sale in the Daily News Leader newspaper.
1940: The newspaper, The Silent Cavalier, was organized. First issue Sept. 16, 1940, Owner and Editor, Reuben I. Altizer, one of our graduates.
1940: Pipe organ removed from Chapel.
1940: Hobby Club for the deaf girls was organized.
1944: The boys track team for the Blind was organized.
1944: The wrestling team for the Deaf and the Blind was organized.
1944: James H. Boothe, Jr., art teacher of this school was called to armed forces of the United States in World War 2. He was killed in action within twelve months.
MAY 8, 1945: WORLD WAR 2 ended.
1945: Girl Scout Troop 19 was organized in this school.
1946: VSDB sold Paris Farm (150 acres).
1946: C. G. Quesenberry proposed and withdrawn (due to pressure from Alumni and friends of VSDB) to change the schools name from The Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind to The Virginia School in Staunton. (Source: Virginia Guide). This proposal was REJECTED.
1946: New Hammond organ placed in Main Hall.
1947: Electric water cooler was installed in Main Hall and Swanson Hall.
1947: A clock and watch repairing shop is a new trade for boys in the vocational department.
1947: Girl Scout Troop 29 for Intermediate Girls was organized.
1948: The deaf department introduced their mascot, the Red Raider.
1948: The old cold storage building is razed. An old well was found under the storage building. A two-story cold storage and refrigeration plant was replaced.
1948: A new four lane divided highway, by-pass (Commerce Road/Route 11), just back of the school along the Lewis Creek and the old Baltimore and Ohio Railway. This ran through the VSDB property.
1948: Master clock installed to operate the school bell system in Main Hall.
1949: VSDB had their first Homecoming Queen. Her name was Montana Aldridge.
1949: Organ moved from Main Hall to Chapel.
1950: A first wedding was held at VSDB. The couple was Evelyn and LeRoy Christian.
1950: Darden Hall for deaf boys was erected. It was named for the Virginia governor, Colgate Darden Jr. (1942-1946) and was third president of University of Virginia. Classrooms and dormitory building for older deaf boys.
1951: Lewellyn Gymnasium was erected. It was named for T. Carlton Lewellyn who was the first Physical Education director of this school. Mr. Lewellyn served from 1913-1962.
1952: Chapel was completely renovated.
SEPTEMBER 1953: Swimming pool was closed because of a crack.
1953: The first annual Mason Dixon Basketball Tournament was held at VSDB. Originators of the Mason Dixon Tournament were Mr. Lewellyn, Superintendent Shinpaugh, Mr. Floyd and Mr. Yates.
1954: The Supreme Court ruled that segregation was unconstitutional. It was Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka Kansas. This ruling required that all schools be desegregated. Virginia responded with a massive resistance. To avoid desegregation, Virginia closed many public schools. This went on for five years. In spite of this resistance, VSDB remained open.
1954: Battle Hall, dormitory for blind girls was erected. It was named after the Virginia governor, John Stewart Battle (1950-1954). It was a dormitory for blind girls. It has kitchen and dining hall in basement for blind students.
MAY 1954: Blind girls moved to Battle Hall.
SEPTEMBER 1954: Blind intermediate boys group was moved to Montague Hall from Peery Hall.
1955: Vietnam War began.
1955: Mr. Bass was trying to locate the cornerstone of Main Hall because it was believed that the cornerstone contained a tin or copper box filled with old documents and various things. One day, a man from the Masonic Lodge believed to know the location. They pinpointed the location and removed the stone. They thought they found the place but discovered it wasnt. To this day, the cornerstone wasnt found.
1958: Mr. Joe R. Shinpaugh became the twelfth superintendent of the school.
1959: Maintenance Building was erected. It was built over the garage.
1959: Healy Hall was erected. Named after superintendent, Joseph Healy (1939-1958). Deaf Department was moved to Healy Hall from Swanson Hall.
1959: The flagpole was installed in front of Main Hall.
1959: The blind department introduced their mascot, the Chief. It was in honor of Coach William Chief Burrows. Coach Burrows was known as the father of wrestling in Virginia.
SEPTEMBER 1959: Swanson Hall became the High School building for the Blind Department.
1961: The historical marker of VSDB was placed on Route 11 (Commerce Road).
1961: VSDB purchased Braxton House (Bradford Hall) and land.
1961: The quest to close New Hope Road begins. VSDB wanted to closed the road that cut through their property. The city of Staunton did not want to close New Hope Road and resisted. The fight to close New Hope Road went on for two years. Finally an agreement was reached. In order to close New Hope Road, VSDB had to buy all fourteen houses on New Hope Road (across the old baseball field). VSDB agreed and bought all fourteen houses. VSDB rented out these houses to teachers and staff of VSDB. Within the next few years, VSDB dismantled them one by one. The last house was dismantled in 2008 for the new Shafter Maintenance Complex.
1962: The yearbook, White Columns, was organized.
JULY 1963: New Hope Road officially closed at East Beverly so the campus can be connected with the Braxton House. Dirt was brought in to fill in the ground and cover the road.
1963: Braxton Hall was renovated into Bradford Hall and completed. Bradford Hall was named after Dr. Charles Bradford (1919-1959).
1963: Carter Hall, dormitory for elementary deaf girls was erected. It was named after Colonel Curry Carter, president of Board of Visitors and a Virginia state senator. Dormitory for elementary deaf girls.
1963: Watts Hall, dormitory for elementary blind boys was erected. It was named after Lucian L. Watts. Covered walkway from the bridge at the end of Swanson Hall to Watts Hall was completed. Dormitory for elementary blind boys.
1965: For 126 years, VSDB had been an all white school for the deaf and the blind in Virginia. In 1963, John F. Kennedy addressed America about the Civil Rights Act. President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act bill. VSDB complied with the Civil Rights Act and desegregated in 1965 by admitting the first black deaf boy, Larry Fortune.
1966: First blind black boy, Jerry Long was admitted.
1966: Harrison Hall, cafeteria for elementary students was erected. It was named after the Virginia governor, Albertis S. Harrison Jr. (1962-1966). Dining Hall for elementary blind boys and elementary deaf girls.
1966: Montague Hall was razed.
MAY 1967: The school trades Persimmon Hill (36 acres) to Belmont Trap Rock Company for Sprouls Farm (23 acres).
1967: Proposal to erect skating rink, softball field, baseball field, basketball court, recreational building, art & crafts building, dormitory for elementary blind girls, classroom building and infirmary on the 18 acres Sproul property was proposed and denied.
1967: Mascot for Deaf Department was changed from Red Raiders to Cardinals.
1967: Bass Hall, dormitory for upper deaf girls was erected. It was named after R. Aumon and Mary Scott Bass who taught at VSDB from 1925-1958. Dormitory for Deaf High School girls. Dining Hall is in the basement.
1968: Price Hall, dormitory for elementary deaf boys was erected. It was named after Charles D. Price, president of the Board of Visitors from 1964 to 1966. Dormitory for Deaf elementary boys.
1970: The boys track team for the Deaf was organized.
1971: Dining Hall/Infirmary and Kitchen Staff/Gardeners House were razed.
1972: Phase one of Strader Hall was completed. Second phase was proposed and denied due to lack of funding. Strader Hall is the fourth vocational building. Strader Hall was named after Ludwell Strader who served on the Board of Visitors from 1962 to 1967 and was president of the Board of Visitors from 1966 to 1967. Vocational building was for the Deaf Department. VSDB requested the General Assembly for funding to finish the phase two of Strader Hall. The request was denied. This is why Strader Hall has the L shape. It wasnt finished.
1972: The print shop was moved to Strader Hall from Chapel.
1972: Stuart Hall was closed.
1972: VSDB had over 500 students.
JUNE 1974: Swanson Hall was completely renovated the breezeway between Peery and Swanson was enclosed connecting the two buildings together.
SEPTEMBER 1974: Stuart Hall was used as classrooms for the Blind High School and Junior High for the school year.
1974: Battle Hall dining rooms were closed.
1974: Rocco DeVito established VSD Hall of Fame. Lewellyn was the first person to receive this prestigious award.
1974: The General Assembly ordered a mandate against the sister schools. Elementary school aged students were to attend VSDB-Hampton and High School aged students were to attend VSDB-Staunton. VSDB deaf department lost its elementary school children and VSDB blind department lost its high school students. A few years later, this move was abandoned and a new mandate was ordered. Students who live east side of I-95 were to attend VSDB Hampton and students who live west side of I-95 were to attend VSDB Staunton. Both schools suffered enrollment.
1975: Congress passed Education of All Handicapped Children Act (PL94-142). Schools for the Deaf and the Blind suffered enrollment everywhere including VSDB. Since 1975, schools for the Deaf and the Blind slowly grew smaller and smaller. VSDB went from 435 students in 1975 to 115 students in 2010.
1975: Vietnam War ended.
JUNE 1975: Stuart Hall closed.
1976: The girls volleyball team for the Deaf was organized.
1976: The courtyard was blacktopped.
1978: Sheldon Melton became the thirteenth superintendent of the school.
1978: Miss VSDB Pageant was held for the first time and Janis Collier was the first Miss VSDB.
1980: The girls softball team for the Deaf was organized.
1980: The Cold War began between the two sisters, VSDB Staunton and VSDB Hampton. The war raged on to claim the right to being the ONLY school for the Deaf and the Blind in Virginia. After 30 years of fighting, VSDB Staunton won.
1984: VSDB no longer have the Board of Visitors and completely went under the Department of Education.
1984: Canteen at the bottom of the Chapel stopped being used.
SEPTEMBER 1988: Darden Hall was closed. Older deaf boys moved to Watts Hall.
1989: VSDB celebrated being 150 years old.
1991: Abernathy Natatorium was erected. It was named after Louise Abernathy, a long time student life director.
1992: Dr. Joseph Panko became the fourteenth superintendent of the school.
1993: The soccer team for the Deaf was organized.
1994: Old Canteen store at the bottom of the Chapel was made into the Yates Library.
1995: Mr. VSDB was held for the first time at VSDB and William Whitfield was the first Mr. VSDB.
1998: The bell tower was opened in the Chapel. The passageway from Main Hall to the Chapel was removed.
1999: Mr. Robert Whytal became the fifteenth superintendent of the school.
1999: The controversial I-95 mandate was removed.
2004: New floor was put into the Chapel.
2004: VSDB changed the heating system from the steam plant to individual systems for each building.
2007: The log cabin styled Boy Scout room was removed from Main Hall.
2008: The 100-year old Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind in Hampton closed.
2008: VSDB-Staunton and VSDB-Hampton consolidated.
2009: Steam pipe connecting VSDB to Western State Hospital (later changed to Prison and now condo) was removed.
2009: Stuart Hall gets a new roof.
2009: The Board of Visitors was brought back to VSDB.
2009: Maintenance Building was torn down.
2009: Shafer Maintenance Complex was erected in honor of an ex-slave, Dennis Shafer for his many years of service at VSDB.