The Scottish connection...................Scottie the Scottie dog..............a mascot.......of an ivy league school in Pittsburgh, Pa..........Carnegie Mellon.............Andrew Carnegie library in nw...........a poor Scottish kid who became an American billionaire...........Pittsburgh, Pa was the intended end of the Chesapeake Ohio canal........odd name b/c it starts here in DC...........on the Potomac river.........the Ohio river runs through Pittsburgh, PA............

History[edit]

The current building, a U.S. National Historic Landmark, was constructed in 1893 under the direction of Alexander Graham Bell to serve as a center of information for deaf and hard of hearing persons. Bell, best known for receiving the first telephone patent in 1876, was also a prominent figure of his generation in the education of the deaf. His grandfather, father and elder brother were teachers of speech and the younger Bell worked with them.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Bell moved to Canada with his family in 1870 following the deaths of his brothers, and a year later moved to Boston to teach at a special day school for deaf children.^[3] Both Bell's mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing his life's work. He became a renowned educator by opening a private normal class to train teachers of speech to the deaf and as a professor of vocal physiology and the mechanics of speech at Boston University. During this time he also invented an improved phonautograph, the multiple telegraph, the speaking telegraph, or telephone, and numerous other devices.^[3]