<P> Perkins School for the Blind, in Watertown, Massachusetts, is the oldest school for the blind in the United States . It has also been known as the Perkins Institution for the Blind . </P> <P> Perkins manufactures its own Perkins Brailler, which is used to print embossed, tactile books for the blind; and the Perkins SMART Brailler, a braille teaching tool, at the Perkins Solutions division housed within the Watertown campus's former Howe Press . </P> <P> Founded in 1829, Perkins was the first school for the blind established in the United States . The school was originally named the New England Asylum for the Blind and was incorporated on March 2, 1829 . The name was eventually changed to Perkins School For the Blind . John Dix Fisher first considered the idea of a school for blind children based upon his visits to Paris at the National Institute for the Blind and was inspired to create such a school in Boston . </P> <P> The school is named in honor of Thomas Handasyd Perkins, one of the organization's incorporators and a Boston shipping merchant who began losing his sight at the time of establishment . In 1833, the school outgrew the Pleasant Street house of the father of its founder Samuel Gridley Howe, and Perkins donated his Pearl Street mansion as the school's second home . In 1839, Perkins sold the mansion and donated the proceeds . This gift allowed the purchase of a more spacious building in South Boston . In 1885, 6 acres (24,000 m) were purchased in the Hyde Square section of Jamaica Plain, a residential district of Boston, to build a kindergarten . This property was home to both Laura Bridgman and Helen Keller . The school moved to its present campus, in Watertown, Massachusetts, in the autumn of 1912 . </P>

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