1882: A strictly charitable institution, Maurice Porter Memorial Hospital served a small number of homeless children in Chicago. Originally accommodating only 30 patients, the hospital soon expanded to form a triangular swath of buildings bounded by Fullerton Avenue, Orchard Street, and Lincoln Avenue. To mitigate the spread of infectious disease, the hospital was arranged into several smaller buildings with space left for recreational grounds in between.
1893: After a year of planning by the Building and Aid Society, the Home for Crippled Destitute Children opened. Also a charity-based institution, the Home acted primarily as a treatment center for children who could not afford care elsewhere, with the secondary goal of developing the mind through education. Mrs. Sherwood, president of the Society for Destitute Crippled Children, would go on to describe the goal of the instruction as providing a strong “foundation for useful Christin citizenship.”
1899: The Home for Crippled Destitute Children went public after the wife of Chicago Board of Education President Andrews (1898-1900) intervened on behalf of the institution. As a result, instructors switched over from volunteer to salaried positions. In March, the Chicago Board of Education began to test so-called “normal” students at Alcott School. Officials declared there to be a “clear relationship between physical condition and intellectual capacity,” and thus recommended “that physical condition be made a factor in the grading of children for school work and that classes in physical culture should be graded on a physical instead of an intellectual basis.” Treatment for motor defects and nutritional deficiencies was to be the responsibility of the school, but conditions beyond that are determined to be outside the capacity of the school system. More broadly, there was a growing interest in the link between the health of children and educational success.
1900: The Home for Destitute Crippled children briefly became a branch of Emerson School, then later the same year an independent institution under the leadership of Emma Haskell.
1903: New screening procedures implemented at the elementary level led to an increase in students identified as “crippled.” As a result, referrals to special schools increased. Additionally, the Chicago Board of Education made its first allotment for the funding of public vacation schools this year.
1908: Spalding School officially opened after a year of construction. The new school was opened in response to overcrowding of special education programs at Tilden, Fallon, and Mark Sheridan schools. Unlike its predecessors, Spalding’s architects built the institution with accessibility at the forefront, with ramps and elevators being main features of the building. Spalding, as well as sequential special schools, were segregated in that they only served disabled students, but integrated racially, leading to a diverse student population.
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1918: deadly Influenza outbreak hits Chicago. Despite the widespread closure of the city’s business and entertainment districts, Chicago Public Schools remained open on account of their pre-established systems of medical inspection and response. While attendance would only top out at around 50% at the height of the epidemic, schools remained open and accessible to any child that needed them. 1920: Some students are forced to use taxis to get to school during a short strike by Spalding bus drivers.
1923: Sunset Camp, a summer program in Antioch, IL originally founded to serve underprivileged children in Chicago, began to accept children with heart disease under the supervision of and direction of the Chicago Heart Association. Soon after, Sunset Camp became a cardiac convalescence, providing not only permanent medical staffing but also on-site educators. 1924: A city-wide survey was conducted of crippled children, spurring the development of additional homes and convalescent institutions.
1928: A $1.5 million addition was added to Spalding, including two swimming tanks and a special room for ultra-violet ray treatment. 1930: At Spalding, giant lamps were installed to provide “synthetic sunshine” to students who were vitamin deficient or otherwise could not participate in outdoor activities.
1939 The “Bill of Rights for the Handicapped Child” was issued as a major policy statement at the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection. Among these rights included the right to an education fitted to one's handicap, so as to obtain economic independence and societal fulfillment. This policy statement would go on to influence educational policy at the state level, including several important Illinois laws.
1941: In June, a number of laws in regards to education programming for children with disabilities were enacted with the help of lobbyists in The Illinois Association for the Crippled and other advocacy groups. House bill #724 revised and expanded on the definition of what it meant to be “physically disabled.” Additionally, this bill placed responsibility on public schools to record the nature of these disabilities and provide additional supervision and appropriate educational opportunities. House bills #647, #660, and #367 were also passed the same year, increasing biennial appropriations, expanding state aid for hard of hearing education, and revising the function of the Illinois Commission for Physically Hanicapped Children to include the mentally handicapped as well, respectively. This legislation enabled the construction and maintenance of many special schools and classes for the physically disbaled, deaf and hard of hearing, blind and visually impaired, delinquent, and truant students.
1944: To address a perpetual lack of qualified educators, Normal University (Now Illinois State University) establishes its first special education program.