 Because of the close proximity to the station, Wanamaker and the area south of it was sometimes referred to as Gallaudet or Gallaudet Station.The Gallaudet name derives from the 350 acres of land having been originally owned by James Smedley Brown, once superintendent of the Indiana School for the Deaf.Brown named the area in honor of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, one of the founders of the first permanent school for the deaf in the United States.