Alice Cogswell Statue

Thanks to Dan R. for posting these beautiful statue of our first deaf student a the American School for the Deaf in 1817. A Deaf Community raised money to have this statue made and erected.

As you head downtown, you may notice this statue in the small traffic triangle where Farmington Avenue, Asylum Street and Broad Street all meet. Have you ever noticed that Broad Street changes its name to Cogswell Street when it heads north past Asylum? Here is why.
The statue is a 9′ high bronze statue of Alice Cogswell, the first student at the American School for the Deaf. The school was founded in 1817, and was originally located on Asylum Street in Hartford before it was relocated to West Hartford. The ASD was America’s first school for the deaf. One of the school’s founders, Mason Fitch Cogswell, was Alice’s father.
An inscription at the base of the statue reads:
COMMEMORATING THE FOUNDERS OF THE
AMERICAN SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF
AMERICA’S PIONEER INSTITUTION FOR THE HANDICAPPED
AT HARTFORD APRIL 15, 1817
THOMAS HOPKINS GALLAUDET
MASON FITCH COGSWELL LAURENT CLERC
DEDICATED BY THE
NEW ENGLAND GALLAUDET ASSOCIATION OF THE DEAF
TO EXPRESS THE GRATITUDE OF THE DEAF OF THE NATION
APRIL 15, 1953
It’s a dignified, well maintained statue of a serious looking young girl holding a book to her chest. She is standing inside a huge outstretched hand!