"Long Gone Oberlin From 45 Years Ago" Oberlin Travelogue by grandmaR

This was the building where all of the zoology classes were held. It was named in honor of Albert A. Wright who was Professor of Geology and Natural History for thirty-one years. Natural History was probably what they called Biology in those days.

It was originally built as the Second Congregational Church between 1867 to 1870, and was used until the union of the First and Second Churches in 1920.

The College purchased the building in 1927, removed the steeple, and remodeled the building as a temporary home for the department of Zoology. The choir loft had been converted to a classroom. We sat in tiers looking down on the professor. There was also another classroom but I don't remember much about it.

The five labs were in the basement and the library/reading room and offices were in the former pastor's study area. There was a large auditorium where the main part of the church was, and the floor around the edge and in the gallery was occupied by the Zoological Museum which had a lot of stuffed and preserved animals.

A tablet, placed in Spear Laboratory in 1908 as a memorial to Professor Wright, occupied a place near the entrance.

This building was not in use when this picture was taken. It was already scheduled to be torn down.(August 1959). Currently the site is occupied by Bibbins Hall of the Conservatory complex.

When I went back for my 10th reunion, the zoo department was still in temporary quarters over by the women's gym (where we had classes my senior year). Now of course it is called the Biology Department and is in the brand new Science building. Some of the old stuffed animals are in display cases there.

Old Botany Building

In 1955, the main beginning biology classes were held in Hall Auditorium and labs were held either in the botany building (where mine was) or in Wright Zoo Lab (where I served as a lab assistant)

From 1891 to 1904 (before my time) the laboratory of the department of Botany. was where the Cox Administration building is now. According to college archive records, in 1904 the College remodeled the property known as the "Lincoln House," which had been purchased by the College in 1893. It was a two-story frame building.

In 1914, it was moved to Professor Street north of Severance Chemical Laboratory. In this location the house was attached to the front of the Metcalf house that was already on this lot. The department herbarium was stored in a two story fireproof section, erected in 1927, equipped with dustproof and insectproof steel cases. Two greenhouses were also added. The brick addition of 1927, cost an estimated $10,000.

This picture was taken from the Severence Chem Lab. The corner of Wright Physics building is visible on the right, and beyond that the north campus men's dorms. I see no evidence of greenhouses or a brick addition, or indeed of more than one house at this location.

Labs were in the front parlor, except for small ones like bacteriology which were upstairs in one of the bedrooms. The building was demolished in September 1961 so it was already gone when I came back for my 10th reunion. The new science building is in part of this space.

Conservatory at night

The conservatory students had to (probably still do) practice a certain number of hours and for the larger instruments (piano, organ etc) there was a great deal of pressure to get a practice room. Many of them ended up practicing at night.

The two conservatory buildings were Warner Hall and Rice Hall. Between the two buildings there were over 250 practice rooms, but of course you couldn't practice the piano or organ without a piano or organ in the room. In the daytime both buildings looked a lot like Peters in the texture of the facade.

Warner Hall was given to the Conservatory by Dr. and Mrs. Lucien C. Warner, of New York. The building was dedicated December 20, 1884. Warner Hall contained offices, a musical library, lecture rooms, a small studio theatre, and one hundred and fifty studio and practice rooms.

In the years 1903 and 1904 the concert hall was remodeled, two hundred additional seats were added to the audience room, and other repairs were made. The Kimball organ was replaced in 1928 by a new Skinner organ, at a cost of $29,500. New seats were installed in 1926, the gift of Mrs. Warner. The concert hall seated eight hundred persons.

Warner Hall had a frontage of 120 feet on College Street and 150 feet on Professor Street. In August 31, 1936, the value of Warner Hall was estimated at $175,000, musical instruments and apparatus $80,000, and the music library $3,000.

Rice Memorial Hall was at 10 North Professor Street right behind Warner Hall. It was constructed in 1909 - 1910 and was named in commemoration of the life services of Professor Fenleon B. Rice and Mrs. Helen M. Rice. Professor Rice was for thirty-one years the Director of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Rice Memorial Hall was a four-story structure containing six large lecture rooms, numerous studios, and over a hundred practice rooms. It was used exclusively for the work of the Conservatory.

Warner Hall was demolished in October 1964 to make way for H.C. King Memorial Hall. Today, Rice Hall is filled with faculty offices. The construction project of King Memorial Hall included the renovation of Rice and the removal of its top floor.

Stores in town 1959

I took this picture when I was in Oberlin as an undergraduate because of the book store sign which says "Current Religous Thought Upstairs". I thought this was amusing. The bookstore was over an insurance office and next to a dry cleaners. I think this was on Main Street.

Grey Gables co-op dorm

Grey Gables was a co-op dorm where I lived for 3 years. (My freshman year I lived at Tank which was a girls dorm then and is now a co-op.) The first year (as a sophomore) I had a small single room on the third floor at the top of the stairs (top left window in the front). Halfway through that year, I switched with someone who absolutely didn't get along with her roommate and was on the second floor back. Junior year I roomed on the third floor in a double, and senior year I had a single in the back of the house.

When I went back for my 10th reunion, Grey Gables was gone - nothing there but grass. Now it is a parking lot known as Grey Gables parking lot.

College radio station

WOBC, the college radio station, was housed in the garage behind Grey Gables dorm. Downstairs was the soundproofed studio - the record collection was upstairs. You could only get to the second floor by an outside fire escape style stairway.

I was record librarian for a time. Not only did I buy records for the collection, but I cross indexed them by artist and song in the days before computers. This involved first taking an inventory of all the hundreds of records - some of which had gotten broken, stolen or misfiled, removing the wrong items from the index, making new cards artist and title cards for items that weren't listed and then realphabetizing the index cards with the information.

This picture was taken from my senior year dorm room which looked out over the incinerator and WOBC. WOBC is still in operation with a website but I can't tell from the website where they are now. They do have an on air studio request line at 440.775.8139.

Pyle Inn Co-op

This photo is taken from the 2nd floor of Grey Gables across the street toward the smaller co-op Pyle Inn. The washing machines for the two dorms were in Pyle's basement. Past Pyle are the college buildings and grounds offices and the heating plant.

For many years, Pyle Inn (158 West College Street} was a private dormitory for thirty women, owned by Mrs. Lettie H. Pyle. It was purchased by the College in 1931. After 1933 it became a co-op with women rooming there and 34 additional men boarders.

Pyle was refurbished in 1963-64 and was still here when I came back for my 10th reunion, but it was torn down in 1975 and was nothing but an extension of the parking lot by 2004.

In this picture, people are coming in for lunch. Note the bikes and motor scooter in the front, and a motorcycle with someone riding double on it. Girls were not allowed to own motorized vehicles and the guys were only allowed motorcycles. Cars, if they had one, had to be parked in the impound lot while school was in session. That is except for the buyers for co-op who had the use of a car to pick up supplies.

Now, students are allowed to have cars.

General Shurtleff's statue

Shurtleff Cottage was purchased by the College in the summer of 1912 and remodeled for use as a dormitory for 30 women. It was south of town at 46 Morgan Street down by Plum creek but Johnson and Barrows women's dorms were ever farther south and Allencroft is across South Professor Street.

The cottage was built in the Italianate style in 1892, was the former home of General Giles W. Shurtleff, who "gave forty-four years of his life to the service of Oberlin College,—as Tutor Adjunct Professor, and Professor of Latin, later as Secretary and Treasurer for six years, and for eleven years as a member of the Board of Trustees. "

Giles Shurtleff was a theology student and tutor at Oberlin when the Civil War broke out. He was instrumental in the formation of the Company C, a regiment of the 7th Ohio Volunteer Infantry. Company C was made up of Oberlin College students, and Shurtleff served as its captain. He later commanded the 127th Ohio Volunteer Infantry/5th US Colored Infantry, the first black regiment in Ohio.

His statue stood outside Shurtleff Cottage. The sculptor was Emily Ewing Peck and it dates from 1898.

DESCRIPTION Male Civil War soldier with sword hanging from his belt on proper left side, proper right hand extended, pointing.

On it was inscribed:

"Freedom can not be given, it must be earned.

"Giles Waldo Shurtleff (1831-1904): Believing in the ability of the negro to aid in the fight for his freedom, he organized the first regiment of colored troops raised in Ohio. Inspired by his leadership they offered their lives for the freedom of their race.

"Captain Co. C. - Oberlin Students -7th Regt., Ohio Volunteer Infantry, 1861
Prisoner of War, August 1861 -August 1862
On Staff of General Wilcox, 9th Army Corps, October 1862-March 1863
Engaged in the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 1862
Lieut. Colonel and Colonel, 5th US Colored Troops, July 1863-June 1865

"Before Petersburg, this regiment lay two months in the trenches under daily fire. Nearly half its men were lost and he was severely wounded in the charge on New Market, September 1864.
Brevetted Brigadier General, March 1865."

The house was subsequently the long-time home of James Monroe and his wife, Julia Finney Monroe. He was an important abolitionist, advocate of voting rights for African Americans, and friend of Frederick Douglass. Monroe taught at Oberlin College, served as the U.S. Consul to Brazil, and was a five-term U.S. congressman. Mrs. Monroe was the daughter of Charles Finney, the great religious leader of Oberlin College

Since 1990, Shurtleff Cottage has been privately owned and is now a place to stay. The Chamber of Commerce website says: "This beautifully restored home contains a rich history, large rooms with private baths, and all of the modern conveniences you've come to expect! ..440/774-8033." It is also part of the Oberlin Heritage Center Tour

I didn't notice it when I was driving out of town, so I don't know whether the statue is still there.