How did the simple act of a sister encouraging her little brother 120 years ago help define Alphapointe today?
In September of 1900, a 23-year-old man named Eugene Condon traveled to Nebraska City with the intent of changing the trajectory of his life. Blinded a few years earlier, Condon was eager to free himself from a seemingly endless cycle of anger, heartbreak and depression.
Although scores of blind men and women look for ways to support themselves, occupational opportunities remain scarce. Only 16 industrial programs across the United States in major cities employ blind workers, forcing many to rely on the generosity of others to survive.
Alphapointe traces its founding back to an eventful Labor Day rally where the individual journeys of 30 blind advocates intersect in Kansas City’s Budd Park. Together, blind and sighted alike join forces to form the Association of Workers for the Blind of Greater Kansas City, the precursor to Alphapointe.
How do the accomplishments of two men a century ago help shape Alphapointe today?
Defying the odds and entrenched prejudices, Hayes H. Brooks becomes the first blind student to receive a law degree from the Kansas City School of Law.
Intent on helping blind women develop greater independence, Alphapointe rents an eight-room house and christens it the Catherine Hale Home for Blind Women.
Thanks to the generosity of businessman W. G. Whitcomb and his wife, Alphapointe is deeded a property at 1432 W. Prospect, which will become home to association’s new workshop. Club rooms for employees and their families at the site are completed two years later.
Under the direction of blind foreman Edgar Schaeffer, Alphapointe’s first workshop opens at 415 W. Sixth Street in Kansas City
They returned home, having altered the course of world history, far different than when they left—wounded, scarred, and shell-shocked by the horrors of war.
