The Home for Aged and Infirm Deaf-Mutes was originally founded by the Rev. Thomas Gallaudet, oldest son of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, and philanthropist Jane Alexander in 1872 in New York City. Rev. Gallaudet was vicar of St. Ann’s Church for the Deaf and leader of the Church Mission to Deaf-Mutes (both established 1872). He believed it was important to provide a place for the elderly deaf, who were often isolated in other nursing homes, to go and be looked after by staff who knew how to communicate with them.

Alexander was the Home’s first superintendent, but after she passed away in 1885, the Home found it difficult to keep up with city rents. Rev. Gallaudet raised funds to purchase a farm upstate and renovate the farmhouse for the Home’s residents. The Home was moved to its new location in Wappingers Falls, Dutchess County, New York, in 1886.

The Home was run by two groups. The Board of Directors set policy and oversaw spending, while the Board of Lady Managers supervised the staff and the day-to-day activities of the Home. The staff was headed by a matron, who reported to the Lady Managers. Although St. Ann’s was an Episcopalian church, the residents of the Home, who referred to themselves as “the Family,” were accepted without regard to their religion.

The Gallaudet Home was destroyed in a fire in 1900 and Rev. Gallaudet died in 1902, but the Home was rebuilt by St. Ann’s in 1903. The new Home was a 142’ x 42’ structure with brick facing, steam heat, and gas light, and offered amazing views of the Hudson. However, the Home struggled financially during the Depression, and the residents were disturbed by mining activities nearby. In 1946 the land and house were sold to the Trap Rock Mining Company. The Family were allowed to stay until a new place could be found, and the nearby Gallaudet Cemetery was dug up and integrated with the Wappingers Falls cemetery. In the fall of 1950, the Family was relocated to a site in nearby Poughkeepsie on Bancroft Road, which was later renamed Cedar Cliff Lane.

After several years of financial difficulty and deferred maintenance, the Gallaudet Home reached a crisis point when the furnace broke down in the summer of 1972. It would have been unsafe to leave the elderly residents without heat in the winter, but there were no funds for a new furnace. The Board of Directors voted to close the Home in a special session. The remaining members of the Family were transferred to other nursing homes or sent back to their relatives, and the Home itself was razed before the land was sold.

The Church Mission to Deaf-Mutes remained active even after the closing of the Home, and eventually changed its name to the Church Mission to Deaf People in the fall of 1972 after the Home was closed.