The Overbrook School for the Blind was established in 1832 in Overbrook, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They produced the first embossed book in America, the Gospel of Mark and the first magazine for the blind.[1]
It was established in March 1832 by Julius Reinhold Friedlander (1803–1839), a German who had recently come to Philadelphia, and called it The Pennsylvania Institution for the Instruction of the Blind. By 1835 the school had moved to permanent quarters at 20th and Race Street in Philadelphia. Friedlander died in 1839. In the 1890s a larger building was needed. The new building was designed by Cope and Stewardson and was built in the Overbrook section of Philadelphia. A swimming pool was built in 1906. In 1946 the school changed its name to the Overbrook School for the Blind.[2] In 1960 the school had a fire.[3]