Gallaudet Trivia

What year did the Columbia Institution for the Deaf change its name to Gallaudet College by an Act of Congress (Public Law 420)?

Answer: June 18, 1954  ---  90 years after the signing of the Congressional charter by US President Abraham Lincoln that authorized and enacted a college for the deaf on April 8, 1864. 

Before 1954, the Columbia Institution for the Deaf was comprised of both Gallaudet College and Kendall School for the Deaf.  In 1986 Gallaudet College becomes Gallaudet University when President Ronald Reagan signs the Education of the Deaf (Public Law 99-371).

In 1996, Pre-College National Mission Program was formed as an umbrella to cover the University's preschool programs, the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, the Model Secondary School for the Deaf, other pre-college research and teaching units, and all their associated buildings and other facilities.  It is renamed the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center in 2000.  
 
Source: Gallaudet University Spirits Class of 1957 "Chronological List of Dates: Gallaudet University" 2007

The First School for the Deaf: District of Columbia

• February 16, 1857 - The founding of the Columbia Institution for the Deaf, Dumb, and the Blind, authorized by an Act of Congress:  Founding President: Amos Kendall (hearing)May 30, 1857 – First superintendent of the Institution appointed: Edward Miner Gallaudet (CODA -- hearing Child of Deaf Adult)
  
• June 13, 1857 – Institution opens with 14 children from the D.C, including 5 deaf orphans originally from New York City, a total of nine deaf children and five blind children
  
• July 13, 1857 – First matron of the Institution appointed: Sophia Fowler Gallaudet (deaf)
  
• August 1, 1857 – First instructor appointed for the Institution and later first principal of its Primary Department in 1864: James Denison (deaf)
  
• In 1885 – The Primary Department is formally renamed the Kendall School in honor of Amos Kendall
  
• June 18, 1954 – the Institution is renamed Gallaudet College by an Act of Congress and Kendall School becomes its division. 
  
• In 1996, The Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center was formed as an umbrella to cover Gallaudet University's preschool programs, the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School, the Model Secondary School for the Deaf, other pre-college research and teaching units, and all their associated buildings and other facilities.
  

http://www3.gallaudet.edu/clerc-center.html