[2] The school sits on a campus of 92 acres (37 ha) in the Hilltop neighborhood of Columbus, purchased in 1864.

[5] The campus is on West Broad Street, approximately two miles from the Ohio Statehouse in Downtown Columbus.

[6] The original main building was large, with two wings symmetrically to the north and south of the center.

The building had numerous decorative elements, including lancet arched doorways and windows, stone-topped buttresses, turrets, and gables.

[4] The institution's origin dates to 1850, when a state senator attempted to have a report made of the number of "imbecile youth" in Ohio, and how they could be supported and educated.

[6] In 1856, the New York Imbecile Asylum superintendent gave a lecture and presented two students before the Ohio General Assembly.

The institute's main building was completed enough to begin occupancy in July 1868, with 105 students, increased to 300 by the end of the year.

[7]: 6 In 1871, the school's name was adjusted to the Ohio Institution for the Education of Idiotic and Imbecile Youth.

The campus was built upon gradually, with wings added to the main building in 1876 and 1878, with a heating plant, laundry, workshop, coal house, and hospital also constructed around this time.