History features are brief articles or posts about specific topics that have been written by OHC staff members, volunteers, and community members.
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Hiram Alonzo Pease: The Legend of a Principled Abolitionist By Richard Donegan– AmeriCorps Civil War 150 Leadership Volunteer at the Oberlin Heritage Center (2012) One of Oberlin’s proudest legacies is the town’s role in the Underground Railroad and the fight against...
Oberlin Landmarks and Monuments: Giles Shurtleff Statue Location: In front of Shurtleff Cottage on South Professor Street Built: 1898 Dedicated: Memorial Day 1911 Giles Waldo Shurtleff represented Oberlin’s early action in support of abolition. In speeches and...
Oberlin Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture: The Harpers Ferry Memorial Current Location: Martin Luther King Jr. Park (NW corner of Vine & Pleasant Sts.) Original Location: Westwood Cemetery Built: c. 1865 Moved and Rededicated: 1971 Along the walking path in Martin...
Moses Fleetwood Walker: A Depiction of his Notable and Innovative Inventions. Figure 1: Moses Fleetwood Walker.[1] by Wesley Patterson, Bonner Scholar at Oberlin College and Volunteer, in 2018-2019. Researcher and Docent at Oberlin Heritage Center. Since the creation...
These were twenty of the thirty-seven citizens from Oberlin and Wellington who were charged with breaking the law by helping John Price escape from slave catchers in the fall of 1858. The Oberlin-Wellington Rescue and subsequent trial caught the eye of the nation as...
The Squirrel Hunters: Citizen Soldiers and the Defense of Ohio in the Civil War By Richard Donegan-AmeriCorps Civil War 150 Leader 2012 at the Oberlin Heritage Center (2012) - In late summer of 1862 two Confederate forces, one under General Robert E. Lee and the other...
Oberlin Women in Medicine During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, discrimination against women attempting to pursue most career paths was an unfortunate reality, and the medical field was no exception. Despite these barriers, women of the Oberlin and Cleveland...
by Ron Gorman, Oberlin Heritage Center volunteer docent, researcher, and trustee Oberlin's history is chock-full of people who have gained national and international recognition for their achievements, like Antoinette Brown (Blackwell) - the first female ordained...
by Ron Gorman, Oberlin Heritage Center volunteer docent, researcher and trustee Frances ("Fanny") Jackson came to Oberlin in 1860 with a dream - a dream "to get an education and to teach my people", she said. "This idea was deep in my soul. Where it came from I cannot...
by Ron Gorman, Oberlin Heritage Center volunteer docent In 1850, a young African American couple from Oberlin, acclaimed as up-and-coming spokespersons against slavery and racial injustice, gazed with optimism towards a future of bright hope for themselves, their...
by Ron Gorman, Oberlin Heritage Center volunteer docent The winter of 1856 was a particularly harsh one - harsh enough that the Ohio River froze solid in January, something that only happened every few years. When it did happen, enslaved Americans on the Kentucky...
by Ron Gorman, Oberlin Heritage Center volunteer docent Did you know that Oberlin was the scene of a series of heated public debates featuring renowned abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass and their colleagues in the 1840s? Well, it was, and if...
The Northern Ohio Telephone Company Picket of 1963 The 1960s in the United States were years of great social change and heightened awareness of inequality. Despite slavery having ended nearly 100 years prior, African Americans were still treated unfairly socially,...
Citizens vs. The City: Reexamining the Events of May 8, 1970 On May 4, 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University, killing four. In the days that followed, college towns across the United States...
Integrating Oberlin’s Barber Shops, 1944-45 By Mary Manning, Ph.D., 2015-16 Local History Corps AmeriCorps Member Examining the history of Oberlin’s barber shops means addressing a situation in which overt discrimination was standard practice, far into the twentieth...
Discrimination at the Oberlin Bowling Alleys: Racial Discrimination through "Morality Rhetoric in 1934 by Cal Ransom In the early months of 1934, Oberlin Bowling Alleys, recently opened, was sued for racial discrimination. Three young black townspeople, Harry Thomas,...
On May 4, 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University, killing four. In the days that followed, college towns across the United States and especially in Ohio were on edge. They worried that...
By Mary Manning, Ph.D., 2015-16 Local History Corps AmeriCorps Member Examining the history of Oberlin’s barber shops means addressing a situation in which overt discrimination was standard practice, far into the twentieth century and throughout the United States. In...
Oberlin Women in Medicine During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, discrimination against women attempting to pursue most career paths was an unfortunate reality, and the medical field was no exception. Despite these barriers, women of the Oberlin and Cleveland...
John Langalibalele Dube: Bringing Oberlin to South Africa Oberlin College has educated many important and influential people over the years. Among those is John Langalibalele Dube, a trailblazing figure in South African history. Dube’s transformative journey began at...
The Northern Ohio Telephone Company Picket of 1963 The 1960s in the United States were years of great social change and heightened awareness of inequality. Despite slavery having ended nearly 100 years prior, African Americans were still treated unfairly socially,...
Citizens vs. The City: Reexamining the Events of May 8, 1970 On May 4, 1970, members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University, killing four. In the days that followed, college towns across the United States...
Lorain County, Ohio: Ecological History Guide When the town of Oberlin, Ohio was founded in 1833, agriculture was Ohio’s number one industry and was a major component of Ohio’s economy, and still is today. Ohio’s landscape and soil composition are naturally well...
Integrating Oberlin’s Barber Shops, 1944-45 By Mary Manning, Ph.D., 2015-16 Local History Corps AmeriCorps Member Examining the history of Oberlin’s barber shops means addressing a situation in which overt discrimination was standard practice, far into the twentieth...
Memories of Oberlin College in the 1940s by James K. Sunshine ’49 Whenever I go back to Oberlin, which is every few years, I am astounded at the changes I see on every side. The new science center is the latest and probably the grandest evidence that I am not where I...
Memorial Arch: The Construction, the Conflict, and the Controversy Location: 99 North Professor Street (West side of Tappan Square along North Professor) Built: 1902 Dedicated: May 14, 1903 The Memorial Arch was erected as a memorial to the missionaries of the...
Liquor in Oberlin After Prohibition’s Repeal Oberlin as a community has a complex history as it relates to alcohol, with the town majority condemning alcohol for much of its early history. The 18th Amendment, also known as Prohibition, was ratified January 16, 1919,...
by Hannah Cipinko, Oberlin Heritage Center Junior Intern Richard Lothrop (1925-2015), pictured with his cocker spaniel Rusty. [1] Oberlin is well known for its historic qualities, its strong sense of community, and high amount of community involvement. In this...
by Eileen Telegdy, Oberlin Heritage Center volunteer I am Eileen Telegdy and in October of 2014 I retired, sold my home and moved to a condo in Oberlin. I responded to an ad Liz Schultz, the Museum Education and Tour Coordinator of the Oberlin Heritage Center, placed...
by Eli Goldberg (Oberlin College Class of 2012) Over the last month I've been working with Claire and Daniella to restore the Heritage Center's 1930s doll house. As an archaeology major, I'm used to working with old things - but this doll house is about 2,000 years...
Restored Morgan Street Bridge Railings Installed at the Oberlin Heritage Center Last spring Oberlin Heritage Center volunteers, including Walter Edling, Bert Latran, Dick Holsworth, Charles Pope and George Clark rescued and refurbished the century-old iron railings...