Today it was announced that the Charles Thompson Memorial Hall (built in 1916 in St. Paul) was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 22, 2011. The National Register posted its weekly list of announcements at http://1.usa.gov/tRJsAQ today, and Thompson Hall was on the list.

The National Register of Historic Places designation establishes Thompson Hall's historical significance as a building that continues to serve its original mission as a clubhouse and civic center for the deaf community, and also recognizes the historical contributions of the community in establishing and maintaining this cherished building. It was a gift from a deaf woman, Margaret Thompson, in memory of her deaf husband's desire to give the deaf community a place to gather and find strength in numbers, and it was designed by a nationally recognized deaf architect, Olof Hanson.

It is hoped that the National Register designation will help increase awareness about this unique "living history" property, and enable Thompson Hall to receive preservation and interpretation funding so that it can become more accessible to the community and the public in the future.

Congratulations to Thompson Hall and to all who helped with the project to get Thompson Hall nominated to the National Register of Historic Places!

Special thanks go to the Thompson Hall Board of Trustees and the Minnesota Association of Deaf Citizens for their support and their valuable contributions to this project, and also to Will Stark of Stark Preservation and Dan Pratt of ARCH3 for their professional work on this project.

The Commission of Deaf, DeafBlind, and Hard of Hearing Minnesotans (MCDHH) coordinated this project on behalf of the community. This project was made possible by Legacy funding granted to MCDHH from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund established through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008 and administered by the Minnesota Historical Society.

More details are available on our webpages at http://bit.ly/n9CWp7 and http://bit.ly/nx74az.

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The 2012 Minnesota Association of Deaf Citizens Calendar will be ready for sale in early December 2011.

Each calendar is $20 plus $5.00 shipping and handling and can be bought until December 2012. The MADC calendar makes a great holiday gift, too. We would be happy to mail your gift direct for you.

Click here for forms and more information

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Searching for a secretary for the MADC Board. If Interested, or know of anyone that may be interested, that s/he can commit monthly officer meeting, quarterly board meeting, and corresponding duties- please contact our President, Dann Trainer at president@minndeaf.org.

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Searching for a newsletter editor/layout, please send in your interest, recommendation-- share the posting with others, and contact Dann Trainer at president@minndeaf.org, or Kathleen Smith at vicepresident@minndeaf.org, thanks.

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