1832

The school opens with Samuel Gridley Howe as the first director, using rooms in his father’s downtown Boston home.

1833

Enrollment grows and Thomas Handasyd Perkins, vice president and school trustee, offers his larger home to the school.

1837

Laura Bridgman enrolls in the school and becomes the first documented person who is deafblind to be educated.

1838

Bursting at the seams with 65 students, Thomas Handasyd Perkins sells his house and puts the funds toward the school’s relocation to a hotel in South Boston. The school is named for Perkins.

1842

Charles Dickens, the British author of classics such as “David Copperfield,” visits Perkins and documents Howe’s work with Laura Bridgman in “American Notes.”

1881

Howe Press opens to produce braille books.

1887

Perkins graduate Anne Sullivan travels to Alabama to teach Helen Keller. The pair relocates to Perkins the following year and stays until 1893.

1912

In 1910 to 1911, a new campus is built on the banks of the Charles River in Watertown, Massachusetts, the school’s current site. The school moves to Watertown in 1912.

1951

The first Perkins Brailler is designed and produced by David Abraham at Howe Press.

1955

The school’s name changes from Perkins Institution for the Blind to Perkins School for the Blind.

1989

Perkins creates the Hilton/Perkins Program, known today as Perkins International, to provide services to children who are blind or deafblind with multiple disabilities around the world.

2003

Perkins opens the Thomas and Bessie Pappas Horticulture Center, a greenhouse for students to study horticulture and benefit from horticultural therapy.

2008

Perkins Products unveils the Next Generation Brailler, an update on the classic that is 25 percent lighter than the original and easy to use.

2011

Perkins opens the new Lower School, which features larger, more accessible classrooms and a bigger auditorium. Perkins celebrates the opening of the Grousbeck Center for Students & Technology, the first campus-wide space for student recreation and technology.

2012

Perkins Products unveils the SMART Brailler®, a revolutionary tool that combines audio feedback and a digital screen to change the way people who are blind and sighted can learn braille. The Federal Communications Commission names Perkins, in partnership with the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youth and Adults, responsible for the marketing and outreach portion of its new National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program, which provides communications technology free of charge to low-income people who have combined vision and hearing loss.

2013

Perkins Products is presented with the President’s “E” Award, the highest recognition any U.S. entity may receive for contributing to the increase of American exports.

2014

Perkins establishes the Perkins Business Partnership (PBP), an alliance between Perkins and some of the region’s best-known businesses and nonprofits, which works to break down barriers to employment and expand opportunities for individuals who are blind or visually impaired.

2015

Perkins names Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel of Saudi Arabia special ambassador to the Middle East, where she advocates for increased access to high-quality education and services for children who are visually impaired in the Arab region.