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History
The original Diamond Spring Lodge was a country retreat when Morris County was "the country". The Lodge, once owned by the Waldorf Astoria, served many guests who came by train to Denville and then were picked up and brought to the facility first by horse and carriage and then by motor car.
In 1954 when it was acquired by the NJ Foundation for the Blind, the servants' housing on Diamond Spring Road was all that was left of the old Lodge. The Foundation was founded by several blind men and women in Newark and, for several years, had been primarily a social organization. Casting around for a project, the group discovered that while there was a vacation retreat for blind men and a camp for blind children, there was no facility for blind women to have a summer vacation.
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After researching various locations, the Foundation settled on the Lodge and the initial contribution which enabled the group to purchase the property was made by a blind woman. A group of women researched what would be needed to make the facility accessible for those with visual impairments and in 1955, renovations were underway. The original building had a small swimming pool behind the spring house, a magnificent dining room with a large fireplace and eight guest rooms. The local Lions Clubs, acting on their promise to Helen Keller to become "Knights of the Blind", renovated the swimming pool which was filled from the spring and often had fish as well as bathers.
Although the blind woman who had made the initial gift to purchase the property made an additional gift to help pay for the renovations, there was little extra money so much of the actual renovation work was done by blind volunteers and members of the local community, many of whom contributed supplies and materials at little or no cost. Denville became the Foundation's home town. In the summer of 1955, eight women came for two week sessions in the month of August. The first staff included a director, a housekeeper and a cook augmented by local volunteers. The Foundation served only women in its summer program until 1995. In addition to the summer program, there were weekend social events several times a year.
In the 1960's, expansion was undertaken and the plans for a new facility were drawn up. First, the workshop adjacent to the current main building was constructed. It was known affectionately as "The Cow Palace" after the convention center in San Francisco. At first it was a social and meeting area and later became a workshop employing blind women. The new main building was then begun. Because the Spring was prone to flood and because the facility is surrounded by wetlands, the new building was constructed on eighteen foot pilings. With the new construction, there was accommodations for 64 guests as well as staff. The summer program was now in operation from June through August, accomodating guests in five two week sessions. An additional acquisition of property on the far side of the Spring brought the size of the Foundation properties to 26 acres. New construction included the training center which housed the classrooms, teaching kitchen, the library, an arts and crafts studio and a room designed to be a bowling alley.
In the 1990's the Board agreed to open the building year round for rehabilitation training and began offering a program in activities of daily living, communication skills, computer access using Jaws and Zoomtext, sewing, cooking, and braille.