The Massachusetts School for the Idiotic and Feeble-Minded Youth opened in South Boston. Founded under state auspices and the influence of Samuel Gridley Howe, its first superintendent was Dr. Walter Elmore Leonard. The school, catering to boys, moved to Waltham, Massachusetts in 1887 and eventually became the Walter E. Fernald State School. It closed in 2007. (By John Osborne)