"Victorians and Landmarks of Oberlin" Oberlin Travelogue by grandmaR

I took this picture while walking to the fieldhouse.

Charles Martin Hall house

I didn't know what the significance of this house was, but I took a photo of it when I was on the way back from taking a photo of Tank Hall (see the Local Customs) where I lived freshman year.

This 1853 house "was once home to the family of Charles Martin Hall (OC Class of 1885). Hall's experiments in a laboratory at the rear of the house led to his discovery, at the age of 22, of the electrolytic process for producing aluminum. Hall later became a prime figure in the Aluminum Company of America (Alcoa). The Charles Martin Hall House was designated a National Chemical Historic Landmark in 1997 in recognition of Hall's scientific work there."

Westervelt Building

This building was erected in 1873-74 by the village of Oberlin for use as a high school. In September, 1926, Mr. Edmund C. Westervelt of South Bend, Indiana, presented the property to Oberlin College, together with two business properties, all as an unrestricted gift for any use that the College might wish to make of it. When I was at Oberlin, scuttlebutt had it that the building had been condemned and that was why it could no longer be used as a high school.

In the winter of 1926-27 the building was renovated for use as classrooms and given the name "Westervelt Building." It was mainly used by the departments of English and Modern Languages, laboratories for the work in Accounting and Mechanical Drawing and faculty offices.

We usually tried to avoid having classes in Westervelt because it wa so far off campus, but I had an 8:00 beginning German class in this building my Junior year. This was the year I was treasurer of the co-op, and at the beginning of the semester, I often had cash to deposit in the bank. The bank did not open until 9:00, so I would sometimes attend class with a couple of thousand dollars in my purse to deposit in the bank after class.

Westervelt Hall was used for classes until the King building opened in 1961. It remained vacant except when it was used by the Co-Op Bookstore after their original building was demolished until the new structure was available in the business district. In 1974 it was listed in the National Register of Historic Sites. It was sold to the city in 1976 and then to A.H.Clark in 1979. The Nord Family Foundation purchased the building from Kenny and Ada Clark in 1995. In 1996 it opened as the New Union Center for the Arts. The building also houses "Uncommon Objects," Allen Art Museum's gift store.

Memorial Arch and Peters early spring morning 1959

The Memorial Arch was always a signature place in Oberlin when I was there. It was erected as a memorial to the missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions who lost their lives in the Boxer uprising in China in 1900. My great uncle was a missionary to China at that time, and his daughter (his only child and my mom's first cousin) was born in China. He didn't lose his life in the rebellion - he lived to be almost 100 years old.

The Arch was dedicated May 14, 1903. The architect was Mr. J.L. Silsbee, of Chicago. The construction is of Indiana limestone. Two bronze tablets list the names of the thirteen missionaries and of their five children who were massacred by the Boxers. The Memorial Arch cost $20,720 of which $20,000 was the gift of Mr. D. Willis James. The remainder was collected by the students of the College and other friends. Oberlin was chosen as the proper place for this monument because all but four of those who suffered martyrdom were Oberlin students or members of the families of these students.

The Memorial Arch is located on the west side of the campus, at the center, and constitutes the main entrance to the campus from the west. It is right in front of Peters, and the walk goes from Peters in an almost direct line to Hall Auditorium.

1958 going to noon assembly

Originally, all students at Oberlin were required to attend church. But by the time I was a freshman, attendance at assembly was only required once a week. While there was service held in Finney Chapel four days each week at twelve o'clock, attended by students and faculty, it was only at assembly that attendance was taken. This picture shows students going to assembly.

Finney Chapel is located at the southwest corner of Lorain (State Route 511) and North Professor Streets. It is north of Cox Administration building.

In 1835, a two-story brick building, "spacious and comely." was erected on this site as a home for Professor Finney. Sometime during the year in which Professor Finney became President, 1851, Mr. Finney purchased the house from the College, and continued to occupy it until his death on August 16, 1875. The building was used by the botany department until it was torn down to build Finney Chapel.

In 1903 Oberlin College president Henry Churchill King approached Frederick Norton Finney, former President Finney's son, about construction of a new chapel as a memorial for his father. Frederick Finney agreed because he thought:

"That the youth of this foundation of learning may daily meet to worship God, and that a son may honor the memory of his father."

He suggested two architects, Charles Follen McKim and Cass Gilbert. King selected Gilbert.

The architect had to find the correct blend of college's restrained austerity and the environment created by Peters Hall, Carnegie Library and Warner Gymnasium.

Finney Memorial Chapel exterior measurement is 165 feet in length, and the breadth of the front, including the tower is 117 feet. The body of the building has an average width of 86 feet. The total cost was about $135,000. The seating capacity is 1900 which means it will hold most of the student body. The construction was begun in June, 1907, and the Chapel was dedicated June 21, 1908, in connection with the celebration of the Seventy-fifty Anniversary of the College. Finney Memorial Chapel now serves as a large performance hall.

2004

Charles Grandison Finney was born in Warren, Connecticut, on August 29, 1792. He studied as a lawyer but soon gave up his practice of the law in order to become a Presbyterian minister in 1824.

Finney is probably best known for his contribution to the religious movement known as the Second Great Awakening during the 1830s. At the heart of this movement was a series of revivals. Finney was an evangelist, using emotional sermons to urge his audiences to devote their lives to God. He stirred up controversy wherever he went. He was an outspoken abolitionist and championed other social reforms in the nineteenth century.

In contrast to most churches, who discuraged women from participating in services, Finney asked women to pray aloud at his revivals.

In 1835, Oberlin College hired him as professor of theology. In addition to his years of service on Oberlin's faculty, he became the college's second president from 1851 to 1866. The college grew under the presidency of Charles Finney and funding from the Tappans.

Finney built First Church in Oberlin in 1845, the largest church west of the Appalachians, holding 1800 with a choir loft for 150 (see Local Customs). Finney would be pastor of the church for 37 years and his large congregation rivaled that of Henry Ward Beecher's Plymouth Church in Brooklyn.

This two-story, Romanesque, red and brown sandstone church has a red tile, gable roof with a square bell tower with pyramidal roof and ball finial. The east-facing, front façade has five sets of double doors with cast-iron hinges, centered below a prominent circular window. The center set has the widest opening and a trumeau supports its large, arch tympanum. The bands of stonework surrounding the typanunum are progressively less ornate from the center outward. The other sets of doors have slightly smaller arch tympanums. Two, red, sandstone, Corinthian colonnettes flank each entrance. Four more columns support stone piers that protrude from the wall space between the tympanums of the main entrance.

The Fisk organ, whose installation was completed in 2001, was purchased for $1,185,000 and partially financed by a $500,000 bequest by Kay Africa plus gifts from others including Richard Connelley '50 and the Phoebe Haas Foundation