Nashville has a surprising place in the history of guide dogs in the United States.

Nearly a century ago, Nashvillian Morris Frank helped change how blind Americans could move through public life. Frank, who was blind, read about guide dog training in Europe and connected with Dorothy Harrison Eustis, an American dog trainer living in Switzerland. In 1928, Frank traveled to Switzerland, trained with a German shepherd named Buddy, and returned to the United States ready to prove that a dog could safely guide a blind person through busy streets and public spaces.

When Frank and Buddy arrived in New York, they demonstrated Buddy’s ability by crossing a busy street in front of reporters. Frank then sent Eustis a one-word telegram: “Success.” That moment helped launch a movement that would expand independence and public access for people who are blind or visually impaired.

The organization they built, The Seeing Eye, was incorporated in Nashville on January 29, 1929. Nashville Public Library notes that the first U.S. school to train dogs to assist blind people opened on Union Street in downtown Nashville, near what is now marked by a historical marker. The school later moved to New Jersey in 1931, but its American beginning was here.

The story is about more than one man and one dog. Frank and Buddy helped challenge assumptions about blindness, independence, and public access. Nashville Public Library notes that the city’s cooperation mattered because guide dogs needed to be allowed into places like restaurants, theaters, public transportation, and other public spaces for the idea to work.

Today, The Seeing Eye describes itself as the oldest existing guide dog school in the world and says it has made more than 18,000 matches since 1929. Its work traces back to a Nashville native, his guide dog, and a bold idea that began downtown.

For 615 Daily readers, this is one of those local-history stories hiding in plain sight. Nashville is known around the world for music, but it also played an important role in a movement that helped open doors, streets, buses, restaurants, and everyday life to people seeking greater independence.