Before the Dakota Territory was divided, deaf children living in the part of the territory now known as North Dakota had to do without an education or attend the school in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Because of poor roads, great distances, meager railroads, and general financial inability, few of the North Dakota children could attend the South Dakota school. In the fall of 1889 A.R. Spear, a deaf man from Minneapolis, came to North Dakota to establish a school for the deaf. Mr. Spear's political backers, Senator Swanston and Mr. McCormick of the House of Representatives, introduced a bill in the Legislature for the immediate establishment of the proposed school in Devils Lake. The bill passed March 15, 1890 over the veto of the Governor.
The citizens of Devils Lake furnished free for two years a wooden building located at the corner of Third Avenue and Fifth Street. Mr. Spear was appointed Superintendent on August 1, 1890. The first student to be enrolled was 10-year-old Mabel Alice Newton. By the end of the first school year, 23 children were enrolled. In January of 1891, money was appropriated by the State Legislature for a permanent building.
Old Main Building in 1894: First building on the permanent NDSD campus