Seeing Eye Dog Training School

Dogs have long been man’s (and woman’s) best friend, but for the blind and visually impaired, guide dogs are a lifeline to the physical world. This school is not your average school—as puppies rather than people make up the “student body.” But if the basic purpose of education is to make the world a better place, The Seeing Eye School has made a world of difference. The Seeing Eye, the renowned dog guide training school, was incorporated here on the corner of Third Avenue North and Union Street in Nashville on January 29, 1929, with headquarters in the Fourth and First National Bank Building at 315 Union Street.

The school was started by Morris Frank, a young blind man from Nashville. Frank had been blinded at the age of sixteen. Three years later, in 1927, the Saturday Evening Post published an article called “The All Seeing Eye.” The article was written by Dorothy Harrison Eustis, an American-born woman living in Switzerland who successfully started the world’s first dog breeding and training school for the blind. The need for guide dogs dramatically increased following the end of World War I in 1918. This need stemmed from war injuries suffered by many veterans who were blinded from chemical weapons and other injuries.

Morris Frank wrote to Dorothy Eustis, “I should like very much to forward this work in this country.” Eustis responded, and the next year Frank traveled to Switzerland. When he returned with his guide dog, Buddy, Frank was determined to start a school for guide dogs in Nashville. With the help of Eustis, The Seeing Eye school opened in 1929. Although the school moved to New Jersey in 1931, Frank continued to work at the school, serving as a teacher, trainer, and spokesman. He passed away in 1980 at the age of seventy-two. 

Turn around and walk back up Union Street toward Fourth Avenue. Continue walking west on Union until you reach Fifth Avenue North. Cross Fifth Avenue and turn LEFT. Walk about halfway down the block until you see a Tennessee historical marker for Sarah Estell on your right. Visit our Downtown Public Art and Murals tour or Civil Rights Sit-Ins tour to learn more about the businesses you are passing on Fifth Avenue (also known as Avenue of the Arts).