~ A Summary of MSDAA History ~

After Missouri School for the Deaf (MSD) Superintendent James N. Tate secured permission from the state General Assembly for the graduates to have a reunion at MSD, Henry Gross and Theodosia “Dosia” Grimmett, both MSD teachers and alumni of MSD, wrote letters to the alumni with the exciting news about the “first” reunion.

At the first alumni meeting, September 1, 1891, Missouri School for the Deaf Alumni Association (MSDAA) was officially organized. Mr. Gross chaired the meeting in the chapel of the newly completed.

The original name of MSDAA was “The Missouri Association of the Deaf.” That name was later to become the name of another statewide organization and MSDAA was re-named “The Missouri School for the Deaf Alumni Association.”

MSDAA alumni meetings and elections have seen some changes through the years. MSDAA now conducts its annual meeting during the MSD Fall/Winter homecoming weekend. The Association continues to sponsor and support Deaf educational and cultural causes across the state.