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With An Eye to the Future

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Historical Photographs

Photo Album: 1920s

A baby with Down Syndrome sits on a bench outside a house, next to an old-fashioned wash basin.
It is rare to see a photograph of a baby with Down Syndrome in 1925.
Two men are dressed in the uniforms of police officers, entertaining five children, two of whom are using large wicker wheelchairs.
Two Shriners, dressed as police officers, entertained children in 1925. Shriners Hospitals originated as a place for children suffering from the crippling effects of polio.

The Michael Dowling School for Crippled Children

Michael J. Dowling, a Minnesota politician, newspaper publisher, businessman, and spokesperson for people with physical disabilities lost both legs, most of one arm, and the fingers on the other to frostbite when he was 14. He founded the Michael Dowling School for Crippled Children in 1920 to provide an elementary school for children with physical disabilities. Housed first in a North Minneapolis church building, the school moved to its own facility in 1924. Read more at the Historical Note by the MHS.

A pre-teen girl with disabilities is smiling from a wicker wheelchair.
Michael Dowling succeeded in having the first bill passed providing state aid for children with disabilities in 1919. This photo shows a girl in a wheelchair at the Dowling School in 1925.
Six children ranging in age from approximately 6 to 10 years eat cake on the lawn of a large brick building.

It was all smiles at Michael Dowling School in Minneapolis in 1925. Watch a silent film about Michael Dowling.

A boy of about 4 years leans forward from his wicker wheelchair to examine the camera as closely as it is examining him.
Boy in wheelchair at Michael Dowling School, 1925.
A man about 30 years old sits in a wicker wheelchair surrounded by intricately woven baskets and holds an elaborately tiered birdcage. His hair is severely parted down the middle and he is wearing bib overalls as he smiles at the camera.
Prize-winning basketry at the Minnesota State Fair, St. Paul fairgrounds, 1926.
1920s