DePaul Institute in 1912.

DePaul Institute of Pittsburgh is a nationally renowned school for hearing and speech, located at 6202 Alder Street in Shadyside.

For ninety-one years, from 1911 to 2002, the school was located at 2904 Castlegate Avenue, just across the Brookline/Mount Lebanon city line.

The school was founded in 1908 by the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh and the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill. It was originally located in Troy Hill.

In 1910, the diocese bought thirty-six acres of the forty-acre John S. Gilfillan Farm in the South Hills and began constructing a new campus. The acquired acreage was used for both DePaul Institute and the neighboring orphanage, Toner Institute.

The institute was officially chartered on December 31, 1910, with the original three-story brick building dedicated on May 6, 1911. It contained classrooms, dormitories, dining rooms, kitchen, offices, lavatories, clothes room, a chapel and a library.

Students tend to the Victory Garden in 1918.

The campus grew quickly, with the addition of a two-story recreation hall and training department in July 1911, followed in March 1914 by third floor dormitory addition.

In September 1920, another three-story building was erected that connected the two existing structures. Then, the Chapel of St. Anne, with a Chapel Wing that included additional dormitories, classrooms and a dining hall was dedicated in July 1925.

The student enrollment in 1923.

Expansion continued in 1935 with a separate one-story Primary School building containing four classrooms and a hall for rhythm classes. Then, in 1950, Our Lady of Victory Hall was completed, providing a ten-room nursery, auditorium, gymnasium and classrooms with the latest technology for hearing, and for sight.

Our Lady of Victory Hall.

In 1949, DePaul began offering programs for blind children and those with partial sight. By 1954, overall enrollment had grown to 731 pupils, with seventeen of these being partially sighted students.

In addition to education, DePaul offered students a variety of activities, including sports, social gatherings and their outstanding Harmonica Band.

Photos from the 1958 Golden Jubilee Book.

Scouting was another option, with Boy Scout Troop #241 organized in 1930, followed by Girl Scout Troop #278 in 1935. In the next few years they were joined by Cub Scouts, Peeps, Brownies and Playmates. By 1958, DePaul had produced forty-two Eagle Scouts, seventeen Girl's Marion Award recipients, and twenty Cubs receiving the Parvuli Dei Award.

Construction of the new chapel in September 1961.

In September 1961, the final campus addition was a new 400-seat chapel and a Convent for the thirty sisters who served on the DePaul staff.

June 2002 saw the final class graduate from the Castlegate Avenue campus. The school moved to their present location in Shadyside to begin the next school year.

The former DePaul buildings were taken over for a few years by the Bradley House, a special education center.

After that, the property sat vacant until the 2020s, when the old school buildings were torn down to make room for the Castlegate Green housing complex.

Photos of DePaul Institute

The driveway into DePaul Institute and Our Lady of Victory Hall as seen from Castlegate Avenue.

The Chapel of St. Anne.

Students with headsets and a teacher with a microphone.

Students ready for formal dance.

Boy Scout Troop #241.

Aerial photo of the Depaul Institute campus taken in 1958.

Aerial photo of the former Depaul Institute campus taken in 2014.

* Photos from the DePaul Institute Golden Jubilee book, Brookline Journal and Matt Lackner *