The Burrell-King House: Its Life and Legacy

The Burrell-King House: Its Life and Legacy

The Burrell-King House, which sits at 315 East College Street, stands as a memorial to Oberlin’s past, and a quiet reminder of the strength and courage of her founders. Built in 1852, this house remains distinguished by the varied people who called it home. From a fierce abolitionist to a college president and a piano professor, this house adapted to many changes. By studying this building’s history, we can catch a glimpse of the national movements that shaped Oberlin’s founding and gain a deeper knowledge of the people who have made Oberlin what it is today.

This house’s story begins with a man named Jabez Lyman Burrell. Born in Massachusetts, he came to Oberlin as one of its original settlers and acted as a trustee of Oberlin College when it was founded in 1833. Jabez bought the property in 1845 and built the house in 1852 – the same year that he married his third wife, Lydia Callahan. An ardent abolitionist, some have speculated that Jabez used his Oberlin residence as a station on the Underground Railroad. However, there are no contemporary written documents left that support this theory as few records were ever kept relating to this then-illegal activity. Successful operation of the Underground Railroad necessitated secrecy to protect everyone involved. Jabez’s brother, Robbins, was also an abolitionist, and lived at the Burrell Homestead in Sheffield, Ohio. Robbins’s obituary from 1877 – most likely published in the Elyria Independent Democrat – claims that his home in Sheffield was a station on the Underground Railroad. A letter of Tempe Burrell’s – Robbins’ granddaughter-in-law – also claims that he helped freedom seekers by hiding them, and then taking them to a sympathetic captain who was sailing to Canada.

The Robbins Burrell Homestead, referenced above, is now owned by the Lorain County Metro Parks. Although Jabez eventually stopped being a trustee of Oberlin College, he maintained a “healthy interest in Oberlin,” and even gave the college rights to coal mines that he owned in Illinois.

In 1882, Jabez deeded the property and the house to Oberlin College, and in 1886, the college sold the house and part of the land to Henry Churchill King. One amusing circumstance that surrounds the sale is that, although Burrell’s cow was sold to King, the contract specified that one pint of milk should be provided for Jabez every night. King, who had attended Oberlin College as a transfer student, became an Associate Professor of Mathematics at the institution. Throughout his time as a professor, he also taught philosophy and theology. In 1902, he resigned from teaching to become president of the college, a position he held for the next twenty-five years. King still holds the record as the longest-acting President of Oberlin College.

The Burrell-King House lived its glory days when Henry and Julia King were its owners. They renovated and enlarged the house, and took great pride in lavishly decorating the interior. Edgar King, Henry’s son, spoke “of his father’s occasional extravagance in the addition of some lovely item to the furnishings of his home because of its beauty and appropriateness.”  Donald Love wrote, “those who knew President King best, and who understood best the springs of his life, never failed to speak of his home.” Elsewhere, Love wrote that, “the Kings enlarged and remodeled intelligently and sympathetically, so that, without losing its fundamental character as a home, it became also a most attractive and worthy residence for the President of the College.” Needless to say, the Kings and the Burrell-King House were a big part of the Oberlin experience. From evening public readings, where students sat and listened to Mr. King, to an annual New Year’s open house, to student weddings and senior class parties, the Kings had an extremely great influence on the students and community of Oberlin. In 1927, while nearing the age of seventy, King retired from the presidency of Oberlin College, and seven years later, in 1934, Henry Churchill King died.

In 1939, the King family sold the house to Axel and Ebba Skjerne. Axel, Professor of Pianoforte at the Oberlin Conservatory, was knighted by Frederick IX of Denmark in 1954 for his championing of Danish music in the United States. The Skjernes lived in the house from 1939 to 1971, and during their ownership they only altered a few features of the house. Most notably, they removed a partition wall between two rooms on the main floor, and added a fireplace. Mrs. Skjerne was said to have buried a time capsule beneath the base of the new fireplace. After the death of both Mr. and Mrs. Skjerne, their daughter sold the house to Thomas and Frances Irish in 1971. After a brief ownership of the house, they sold it to the Nordson Foundation (now the Nordson Corporation Foundation) in 1973. The house was later added on the National Register of Historical Places in 1979, and the foundation utilized the house as an office space. The Nordson Foundation also used a grant to renovate the house, which, by that time, was in poor condition. The house was renovated back to its grand appearance, and the interior was restored. In 1988, the home was transferred to the Nord Family Foundation, and in 1989, the foundation gave the Burrell-King House to the Oberlin Historical and Improvement Organization (now the Oberlin Heritage Center).

In 2006, the Oberlin Heritage Center transferred the property to the Oberlin College and Conservatory, which began using it as the home of the Oberlin Community Music School. This music school is an extension of the Oberlin Conservatory that provides high-caliber teachers for students of all ages and abilities. Since the beginning of the use of the Burrell-King House as the home of the Oberlin Community Music School, the house has been utilized as a teaching and recital space for students and teachers alike. The Oberlin Community Music School’s latest adjustment on the Burrell-King House property occurred in the first months of 2020, when the dilapidated barn behind the home was torn down.

As a landmark of early Oberlin, this house was home to one of the most abolitionist families in Lorain County. As the dwelling of a distinguished president of Oberlin College, this house welcomed generations of world-changing students. And today, as the Oberlin Community Music School, this house makes a lasting impact on our community and the arts. The legacy of the Burrell-King House still lives on.

Bibliography:

“Burrell-King House.” Oberlin College and Conservatory, November 19, 2019. https://www.oberlin.edu/burrell-king-house.

Blodgett, Geoffrey. Oberlin Architecture. Kent, OH: The Kent State University Press, 1985.

Boyd, Morag. “The Historical and Architectural Story of the Burrell-King House, 317 East College, Oberlin, Ohio.” Oberlin College, Social History of American Architecture, 1995.

Burrell, Tempe G. Tempe G. Burrell to Professor Wilbur H. Seibert. Wilbur H. Siebert Collection, Ohio History Connection; MSS116AV Box01 F10 119. https://www.ohiomemory.org/digital/collection/siebert/id/24086/rec/4

“Death of Robbins Burrell.” Sept. 10, 1877 [original source not saved on preserved clipping; likely Elyria Independent Democrat]

Love, Donald. Henry Churchill King of Oberlin. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1956.

McQuillin, Steve. “National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form – Burrell-King House.” National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration. Accessed July 21, 2020. https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71989817.

“Quit-Claim Deed,” From The Nord Family Foundation to the Oberlin Historical and Improvement Organization. November 7, 1989. Copy held by the Oberlin Heritage Center.

“Transfer of Burrell-King House by Oberlin Historical and Improvement Organization to Oberlin College, December 11, 2006.” Copy held by the Oberlin Heritage Center.

 

Written Summer 2020 by OHC Junior Intern Natalie Brennecke.