Do you know anybody by chance who laid red bricks for school construction on Horace Street in the 1950s? The chances may be nil because construction crews came to the new school grounds for their paychecks. They didn’t come to work with deaf children. They didn’t know anybody in the deaf community. Instead, they were glad their company had won a contract to do business with the State. At the time, bricklayers had their hourly scale set around $2.50. This rate was considered good money. By contrast, I had a part-time job that paid $1.65 an hour, the minimum wage in 1973.
I happen to know two people involved in the deaf community who took pride in their trades in constructing multiple buildings at the new school in the 1950s.
The first person I am about to identify is Dr Gilbert “Gil” Delgado. Old timers would instantly remember him as a high school teacher. He was friendly and outgoing. He taught at CSDR from 1954 to 1958. He later became Dean of the Graduate School at in Gallaudet University and eventually Superintendent of the New Mexico School for the Deaf.
Gil shared a story with me in the 1990s, in which he was teaching at CSDR and building a new school on the same site! He had teaching duties until 3:00. He changed his clothes and worked in the appropriate construction attire for a few hours for an additional income. I was surprised that a teacher could change his hat for a different line of union work on the same day and at the same place. I guess he got a lucky break to do so at the time.
The construction of CSDR was the largest building project in Riverside’s history. From 1951 to 1958, the State spent $7 million to build everything except the main gymnasium, which was erected in late 1959. When completed, CSDR was the largest and most modern school for the deaf in the country. Visitors from far and near throughout the decades made the same comments that the school buildings left them in awe of their size and good construction.
In Fall 2023, I met Linda Hearn, ‘68, at the Riverside Deaf Festival. She saw a book copy of The CSDR Story 1945-2003 for sale on the booth. She proceeded to tell me that she arrived at the Lower School in the Fall of 1954 and stayed at CSDR until her graduation in 1968. She shared her surprise with me that she, at the age of 5, saw her father working nearby on campus. He was laying bricks in the Rubidoux dorms. He saw Linda at the playground for recess and waved at her. She responded in kind.
Linda was proud to tell friends that her dad helped build a new school for deaf students where she grew up for all her K-12 grades.
CSDR is approaching its 75th anniversary of delivering education and career training to around 4,000 students since 1953. Approximately half of the infrastructure and buildings have been improved or replaced in the past twenty years to keep the state special school in sound shape for another 75 years.
Kevin Struxness, ‘76, MA
Editor, CSDR Old Times
30 September 2024
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