Olof Hanson (September 10, 1862 – September 8, 1933) was a

Deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

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architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Background

Olof Hanson was born in

Fjälkinge Fjälkinge is a locality situated in Kristianstad Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 1,690 inhabitants in 2010. The etymology of the name indicates that the name originally may have meant "steep hill". Fjälkinge Church is a well-preserv ...

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. His father was a well-to-do farmer, county official, and railroad director. In 1874, the family had made arrangements to go to America, where a farm had been purchased. But his father was taken sick and died, and the trip was postponed till the following year, when they came to the United States and settled near Willmar, Minnesota. Olof lost his hearing two weeks after coming to the country. Before becoming deaf he attended public schools in Sweden. In 1878, he entered the Minnesota School for the Deaf at Faribault, and graduated in 1881. Then he entered Gallaudet College at Washington and graduated in 1886 at the head of the second largest class in the history of the college up to that time.

Career

After graduating he entered the office of Hodgson & Son, architects,

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, and remained with this firm in their Minneapolis and

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offices until 1889, when he made a trip to Europe for professional study. About ten months were spent abroad, during which he visited

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and

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. Returning in 1890, he secured a position with Wilson Bros. & Co.,

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, who were then making plans for the new Pennsylvania School for the Deaf at Mt. Airy, and for nearly a year he was engaged on the plans for these extensive buildings. In 1891, he returned to Minnesota and worked at his profession in

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and Minneapolis. For about two years he taught in the school for the deaf at Faribault. But, being resolved to follow his chosen profession of architecture, he opened an office in Faribault, where he was engaged in business on his own account for about three years. Among the buildings erected from his plans are: The North Dakota School for the Deaf; a boys' dormitory building at the Kendall school,

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; one building for the State School for Feeble-minded at Faribault; residences for Dr. J. L. Noyes, Faribault, for Mr. J. C. Howard, Duluth, and half a dozen others in Faribault and elsewhere; also six brick stores and business blocks in Faribault and other places; and a hotel for the Orinoco company in

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. He engaged on a public school building for the city of Faribault, which was won in competition with about twenty architects. Hanson also designed Charles Thompson Memorial Hall in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...

. The hall has wide hallways which allows signers to see each other and communicate more clearly, an early example of DeafSpace. Hanson's papers were donated to the University Archives of Gallaudet University. Some of his papers are also located at the Rice County Historical Society,

Faribault, Minnesota Faribault ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Rice County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 24,453 at the 2020 census. Faribault is approximately south of Minneapolis–Saint Paul. Interstate 35 and Minnesota State Highwa ...

. There is also some other archival information on Hanson at the Northwest Architectural Archives,

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. The

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW and informally U-Dub or U Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington, United States. Founded in 1861, the University of Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast of the Uni ...

, Department of Special Collections, has material on Hanson related to his work in the UW Department of Buildings and Grounds. Hanson served as President of the National Association of the Deaf of the United States (NAD) from 1910 to 1913.Gannon, Jack. 1981. ''Deaf Heritage–A Narrative History of Deaf America'', Silver Spring, MD: National Association of the Deaf, p. 424
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Personal life

Olof Hanson married Agatha Tiegel whom he had met at the Minnesota Institute for the Deaf, where she was a deaf teacher. Agatha Tiegel was the first female graduate of Gallaudet University's full program, with a B.A. in 1893. Together they were the parents of three daughters: Marion F. (born c. 1901 in MN), Alice C. (born c. 1905 in WA) and Helen (born c. 1907 in WA).

References

Other sources

*Anderson, Dennis; Dietz, Duane; Ochsner, Jeffrey, Karl ''Shaping Seattle Architecture'' (University of Washington Press. 199

Biographical information

*Biographical information was quoted from the public domain book: ''Representative Deaf Persons of the United States of America'' (ed. by James E. Gallager, 1898, pp. 109–112) ''

External links

Gallaudet Alumni cards
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hanason, Olof 1862 births 1933 deaths People from Kristianstad Municipality Swedish emigrants to the United States Gallaudet University alumni American deaf people