NORTHAMPTON — A century and a half ago, a wealthy Northampton businessman named John Clarke donated $50,000 to start a school for deaf children. He had lost his own hearing and, together with Boston-based lawyer Gardiner Greene Hubbard, started the Clarke School for the Deaf.
The small school — founded in 1867 — has now grown into the Clarke Schools for Hearing and Speech, with campuses in Boston, New York City, Philadelphia and Jacksonville, Florida, as well as Northampton. Today, Clarke Schools’s five campuses serve more than 1,200 children and their families.
This Saturday, the organization’s sesquicentennial celebrations begin at the site of the original school’s location at 64 Gothic St., Northampton.
A commemorative stone was placed at the Gothic Street location in 1967, in celebration of the organization’s 100th anniversary. A rededication ceremony for the stone will be held at 10 a.m., led by alumni of the school’s former residential program on Round Hill Road. Also at the event will be current staff, board members and students.
“This event is about honoring the history, celebrating the schools’ achievements and looking forward to the future,” Clarke Schools Interim CEO Doug Scott said.
Christine Skwersky, chairwoman of the Clarke Schools Alumni Council and a 1987 alumna herself, will be the master of ceremonies for the event. The Rev. Peter Ives, formerly of First Churches, will perform the invocation and benediction.
The speakers are to include Northampton Mayor David Narkewicz and three alumni: George Balsley and Rodney Kunath, who graduated from the school in 1965 and 1958, respectively, and Emma O’Neill-Dietel, an alumna of Clarke’s Philadelphia campus.
O’Neill-Dietel is a freshman at Smith College. She will talk about Clarke and how it changed her educational trajectory.
“She is a very accomplished young lady and we’re glad to have her here to speak,” Scott said.
School administrators Claire Troiano and Marian Hartblay will also speak about the changes to the organization over time. Due to increasingly sophisticated hearing technology — like cochlear implants and hearing aids — Clarke Schools ended its residential programs 20 years ago. Now, most children who are born deaf or hard of hearing enter mainstream school settings by age 6.
Clarke, a nonprofit, serves children from birth until the age of 18, including early intervention services from birth to age 3, giving each student individualized attention.
Some of Clarke’s recent contributions to education techniques for the deaf include a virtual learning program, which allows deaf children across the globe to access services, and Project LENA, which helps coach parents.
The sesquicentennial celebrations will continue with events in Dedham on Oct. 26, New York City on Nov. 6, Philadelphia on Nov. 8, and Jacksonville, Florida, on Dec. 9.