William Allen Hadley is the founder of the Hadley School for the Blind

Hadley School for the Blind

Hadley School for the Blind is a distance education school for blind and visually impaired people, their families, and blindness service professionals. The school is located in a suburb of Chicago: Winnetka, Illinois....

 in Winnetka, Illinois

Winnetka, Illinois

Winnetka is an affluent North Shore village located approximately north of downtown Chicago in Cook County, Illinois. Winnetka was featured on the list of America's 25 top-earning towns and "one of the best places to live" by CNN Money in 2011...

When you think of the other fellow only and not yourself, your own problem fades into insignificance; in unselfishness lies the real thrill of being alive. - William A. Hadley

The school was founded in 1920 by William A. Hadley, a Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 high school teacher who lost his sight at age 55. To address the absence of educational opportunities for blind people, he began teaching braille by mail and established a school offering accessible, tuition-free classes for blind and visually impaired people. Hadley has been quoted as saying if he had to choose between having his sight back and the Hadley School, he would choose the school.

Timeline

• 1860 - William Allen Hadley is born in Mooresville, Indiana
  Mooresville, Indiana
  Mooresville is a town in Brown Township, Morgan County, Indiana, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 9,326. It was founded in 1824 by Samuel Moore, a Quaker from North Carolina.-Geography:Mooresville is located at ....
  
  . He has a brother and two sisters. He loses his vision in one eye (date unknown).
• 1881 - Graduates from Earlham College
  Earlham College
  Earlham College is a liberal arts college in Richmond, Indiana. It was founded in 1847 by Quakers and has approximately 1,200 students.The president is John David Dawson...
  
   with a Bachelor of Arts degree before going on to earn his Master's Degree from the University of Minnesota
  University of Minnesota
  The University of Minnesota, Twin Cities is a public research university located in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, United States. It is the oldest and largest part of the University of Minnesota system and has the fourth-largest main campus student body in the United States, with 52,557...
  
  .
• Date Unknown - Marries Jessie Henderson, a schoolteacher from Fox Lake, Illinois.
• Prior to 1900 - Taught at Marietta College
  Marietta College
  Marietta College is a co-educational private college in Marietta, Ohio, USA, which was the first permanent settlement of the Northwest Territory. The school offers 42 majors along with a large number of minors, all of which are grounded in a strong liberal arts foundation...
  
   in Ohio and in public schools in Peoria, Illinois
  Peoria, Illinois
  Peoria is the largest city on the Illinois River and the county seat of Peoria County, Illinois, in the United States. It is named after the Peoria tribe. As of the 2010 census, the city was the seventh-most populated in Illinois, with a population of 115,007, and is the third-most populated...
  
  
• Date Unknown - Margaret and Emily Hadley are born to William and Jessie Hadley.
• 1900 - Begins teaching at Chicago’s Lake View High School.
• 1905 - The Hadleys move to Winnetka, Illinois.
• 1915 - During the holiday break William Hadley catches influenza and two days later has permanently lost his sight from a detached retina.
• 1920 - Hadley and Dr. E.V.L. Brown, an ophthalmologist and friend, found the Hadley School for the Blind
  Hadley School for the Blind
  Hadley School for the Blind is a distance education school for blind and visually impaired people, their families, and blindness service professionals. The school is located in a suburb of Chicago: Winnetka, Illinois....
  
  .
• November 1920 - A farmer's wife in Kansas becomes the first Hadley student to enroll to learn "braille by mail."
• By 1938 - More than 1,000 home-study (distance education) courses have been sent to blind students throughout the U.S.
• 1941 - William Hadley dies and is buried in Mooresville, Indiana
  Mooresville, Indiana
  Mooresville is a town in Brown Township, Morgan County, Indiana, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 9,326. It was founded in 1824 by Samuel Moore, a Quaker from North Carolina.-Geography:Mooresville is located at ....