Cascade Legends
We have a park named Atkinson Park. So who was Atkinson? J. Robert Atkinson was born sighted in Galt, Missouri. At the age of 16 he dropped out of school and came to the Cascade area where he worked as a cowboy. While packing his gun one day for travel a 6-shooter accidentally went off, shooting Robert in the face. His doctors removed his eyes, which they felt were injured beyond recovery, to prevent infection and save his life.
Robert began to rebuild his life and resume his education by learning forms of reading for the blind including Braille. He soon found there was little published in Braille. Frustrated, Robert began to experiment and created a method of two-sided Braille printing, the Braille Press system that is used today for printing. He founded the Universal Braille Press in 1919 and the National Braille Institute, located in California. Atkinson spent the next 40 years working to improve the lives of the blind through innovation, advocacy and practical support.
Fifty-one years after the gunshot accident, he and a friend, screenwriter Edwin J. Westrate, wrote a book about his life, ‘Beacon in the Night’. Atkinson died in Los Angeles in 1964. In 1967Robert’s widow had a park in Cascade built in his honor and the town named the park for Atkinson. As a youth Robert Atkinson was a fearless bronco buster and a dependable range rider. He never lost his love of horses and continued to ride after losing his sight. Thereby the statue of Robert riding his favorite horse was also erected in the park. Robert was inducted into the Hall of Fame: Leaders and Legends of the Blindness Field in 2002.
Use your library often for Education, Information, Recreation, and Technology 