Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 16

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 916

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Upon the wall above the cave numerous names have been painted, which to inscribe must have required ladders. There, about twenty feet high, is painted as below :

Q. A. GILMORE, 1844.

This is the mark of General Gilmore, the distinguished engineer officer, who at that date was a pupil of the high school in Elyria. His name, as well as others, were in black paint ; and it stood from the surface in bas- relief. The oil in the paint had preserved the stone from the influence of water, sun and air upon the general surface of the rock, which where exposed had worn away.

There was a time when the forks had united to the north of their present junction, which is now a few hundred yards to the east of the west falls.

The Black River Basin .- The ancient place of union of the forks was at a locality called the "Basin," a wide expansion of the river into which the East fork poured directly by its cataract, and the West fork after having reached the level of the basin by its then cataract a short distance only above. This basin covers about an acre or two. Below it is an island covered with majestic woods, provided with rustic scats. Pic-nic parties assemble

here and enjoy the wild and beautiful scenery of the basin, which is indescribably grand ; rocks are piled on rocks in endless confusion.

Black River writes its history like Niagara as it works its way into the interior. As we returned to the town my companion pointed to me a huge rock in the bottom of the gorge, just below the east falls. This had been a shelving rock until a few years ago. A fissure had been discovered at its rear. It gradually widened, and as a precaution a path in front which led to a mill was fenced, as it seemed but a work of time when it would fall.

A Rock Fall .- About six o'clock, Tuesday morning, July 23, 1872, the whole town-was aroused by a deep dull sound, followed by the rattling of windows and causing many to rush from their houses as though it had been an earthquake. It was the fall of this rock I saw, which fell about forty feet. Its dimensions taken at the time were as follows : length, 90 feet ; breadth, 25 feet ; height, 30 feet ; estimated weight, 4,500 tons ; and with the detached portions about 6,500 tons.

The freezing of water in rock fissures in time will split the strongest stone. Mr. Washburn, after pointing out this rock, said : " My father, a New Hampshire farmer, split granite rocks in his mica quarry by drilling deep holes, then filling them with water, which upon freezing split the largest rocks asunder. The more modern rocks were frequently split by drilling channels and driving in pine wedges, which being expanded by either frost or water would separate the rock."

A Secluded Retreat .- I know of no town anywhere that has such a secluded retreat within two minutes' walk of its very centre as has Elyria in Washington avenue. It lies north of the town in a loop of the East fork, on a spot which only a few years ago was an ancient and magnificent forest of pine, oak, ash and maple. The avenue was laid out one hundred feet broad, on ground level as a floor. It is entered by an iron bridge one hundred and eighty-five feet long across the stream, just above the falls, and not over six hundred feet in a direct line from the public square.

The residences there are fine home lots, large, without fences and every place backs upon the stream, while around are the grand old woods. Mr. David C. Baldwin is espe- cially favored in his home, as he can look down from the forest retreat, which he has provided with rustic seats, upon the falls of Black river and listen to their unceasing roar. They call the spot the " Nixen-Wald," the water-spirits' wood. Nothing can be more wild than the gorge at that spot, with its falling waters, overhanging cliffs, dark solemn woods, where hemlocks spring from out of the crevices of the everlasting rocks and cast their sombre shades. As I left there in the gathering shadows of a summer evening, a bird sent forth from his seclusion one solitary, delicious note. " What is that ? " I inquired.

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"That," replied Mrs. B., "is the wood- robin, Audubon's favorite bird." I thought, as she told me, to us men it enhances the pleasure of hearing a pleasant thing when it comes from the lips of woman.

Old Men's Croquet Club .- Near the brink of the East Falls, at this spot, the old gentle- men of Elyria have put up a building devoted to the game of croquet. They oft go early in the day and play and talk into the night. It is in charge of a janitor, and in winter is heated and lighted. Here gather men from

sixty to eighty years of age, who have mostly finished the active business of life, and engage in the game with the zeal and hilarity of so many boys. It is not probable there is another just such a club anywhere ; but its influence upon the health, spirits and social welfare make it an excellent example for those "in the sere and yellow leaf" every- where, for it fortifies the limbs against rheu- matic twinges and takes the mind from grave- yard contemplations.

In his " Antiquity of Man" the late Col. Charles Whittlesey published an account of what he calls the " ELYRIA SHELTER CAVE," and therein states that it was "on the west bank of Black river, a short distance below the forks at Elyria, in a romantic gorge through which the river flows." It was examined by him in April, 1851, in company with Prof. E. W. Hubbard and Prof. J. Brainerd. This shelter rock is still there, and also another on the same side of the river, but higher up above the junction on the west fork, where many Indian relics have been found. We did not visit either of them. Below is Mr. Whit- tlesey's description :

This is one of numerous instances where the " grindstone grit" of Northern Ohio, resting upon soft shale, presents a projecting ledge, forming a grotto capable of sheltering a large number of persons, being abont fifty feet in length by fifteen feet broad. This and others in the vicinity which have not been explored correspond to the European "shel- ter cavern " where human remains are always found. These retreats constituted the domi- cils of our race while in their rudest condi- tion. We dug to the depth of four feet on the floor of this cave, composed of charcoal, ashes and bones of the wolf, bear, deer, rabbit, squirrel, fishes, snakes and birds, all of which existed in this region when it became known to the whites.

The place was thoroughly protected against rains. At the bottom, lying extended upon clean yellow sand, their heads to the rear and feet outwards, were parts of three human skeletons ; two of them nearly entire. Two

of them were preserved by Professor Brainerd. They were decided to belong to the North American race of red men by those who had an opportunity to examine them.

These skulls were exhibited at the Cin- cinnati meeting of the American Association, in 1851, but were afterwards destroyed by a mob, together with the entire museum of the Homoeopathic College at Cleveland. The position of the skeletons indicated that they were crushed by a large slab of the over- hanging sandstone falling upon the party while they were asleep at the back part of the grotto. One of the skulls was that of' an old woman, the other of a young man. Flint arrowheads, such as the Indians once used, were scattered throughout this mass of animal remains. Judging from the appear- ance of the bones, and the depth of the accumulations over them, two thousand years may have elapsed since the human skeletons were laid on the floor of this cave.

The most noteworthy event, perhaps, in the history of education in Ohio was the establishing of OBERLIN. In its early days it was regarded by many well- meaning people as a sort of monstrosity, but time has demonstrated the strength of its foundation ideas, and to-day it is a highly prospering institution with an imperishable history. In 1883 was held its semi-centennial anniversary, since which five new college buildings have been added, built of the beautiful brown sandstone quarried in the neighborhood. What it was on the issue of onr first edition is here told.

Oberlin in 1846 .- Eight miles southwest of Elyria is the village of Oberlin, so named from Rev. John Frederic Oberlin, pastor of Waldbach, Switzerland, who was remarkable for his great benevolence of character. He was born in Strasbourg, in 1740, and died at Waldbach, in 1826. The town is situated on a beautiful and level plan, girted around by the original forest in its primitive majesty. The dwellings at Oberlin are usually two stories in height, built of wood, and painted white, after the manner of the villages of New England, to which this has a striking resemblance. Oberlin contains 3 dry-goods and 1 book store, a Presbyterian church, the collegiate buildings and about 150 dwellings.

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The Oberlin Evangelist, which has a circulation of 5,000, and the Oberlin Quarterly Review are published here. The engraving shows, on the right, the Presbyterian church, a substantial brick building, neatly finished externally and internally, and capable of holding a congregation of 3,000 persons ; beyond it, on a green of abont 12 acres, stands Tappan Hall ; and facing the green, com- mencing on the left, are seen Oberlin Hall, Ladies' Hall and Colonial Hall, all of which buildings belong to the Institute. By the annual catalogue of 1846-7 there were at Oberlin 492 pupils, viz .: in the theological department, 25 ; college, 106 ; teachers' department, 16 ; shorter course, 4 ; male preparatory, 174 ; young ladies' course, 140 ; and ladies' preparatory, 28. Of these there were males, 314 ; and females, 178.

The annexed sketch of Oberlin was written by J. A. Harris, editor of the Cleveland Herald, and published in that print in 1845 :

The Oberlin Collegiate Institute is emphat- ically the people's college, and although some of its leading characteristics are peculiar to the institution, and are at variance with the general public opinion and prejudices, the college exerts a wide and healthy influ- ence. It places a useful and thoroughly practical education within the reach of indi- gent and industrious young men and women, as well as those in affluent circumstances ; and many in all ranks of life avail themselves of the rare advantages enjoyed at Oberlin. The average number of students the last five years is five hundred and twenty-eight, and this, too, be it remembered, in an institution that has sprung up in what was a dense wilderness but a dozen years ago. To remove all incredulity, we will give a concise history of its origin and progress.

The Rev. John J. Shipherd was a prom- inent founder of Oberlin. His enterpris- ing spirit led in the devising and incipient steps. Without any fund in the start, in August, 1832, he rode over the ground for inspection, where the village of Oberlin now stands. It was then a dense, heavy, unbroken forest, the land level and wet, almost inacces- sible by roads, and the prospects for a settle- ment forbidding in the extreme. In Novem- ber, 1832, Mr. Shipherd, in company with a few others, selected the site. Five hundred acres of land were conditionally pledged by Messrs. Street & Hughes, of New Haven, Conn., on which the college buildings now stand. A voluntary board of trustees held their first meeting in the winter of 1832, in a small Indian opening on the site. The Legislature of 1833-4 granted a charter with university privileges. Improvements were commenced, a log-house or two were erected, people began to locate in the colony, and in 1834 the board of trustees resolved to open the school for the reception of colored persons of both sexes, to be regarded as on an equality with others. In January, 1835, Messrs. Mahan, Finney and Morgan were appointed as teachers, and in May of that year Mr. Mahan commenced housekeeping in a small log-dwelling. Such was the begin- oing-and the present result is a striking exemplification of what obstacles can be over- come and what good can be accomplished

under our free institutions by the indomitable energy, earnest zeal, and unfaltering perse- verance of a few men, when they engage heart and soul in a great philanthropic enter- prise.

Oberlin is now a pleasant, thriving village of about two thousand souls, with necessary stores and mechanics' shops, the largest church in the State, and a good temperance hotel. It is a community of teetotallers, from the highest to the lowest, the sale of ardent spirits never having been permitted within its borders. The college buildings number seven commodious edifices. Rev. A. Mahan is president of the College Institute, assisted by fifteen able professors and teachers. En- dowments-eight professorships are supported in part by pledges ; 500 acres of land at Ober- lin, and 10,000 acres in Western Virginia.

OBJECTS OF THE INSTITUTION.

1. To educate youths of both sexes, so as to secure the development of a strong mind in a sound body, connected with a permanent, vigorous, progressive piety-all to be aided by a judicious system of manual labor.

2. To beget and to confirm in the process of education the habit of self-denial, patient endurance, a chastened moral courage, and a devout consecration of the whole being to God, in seeking the best good of man.

3. To establish universal liberty by the abolition of every form of sin.

4. To avoid the debasing association of the heathen classics, and make the Bible a text- book in all the departments of education.

5. To raise up a church and ministers who shall be known and read of all men in deep sympathy with Christ, in holy living, and in efficient action against all which God forbids.

6. To furnish a seminary, affording thor- ough instruction in all the branches of an education for both sexes, and in which col- ored persons, of both sexes, shall be freely admitted, and on the terms of equality and brotherhood.

We confess that much of our prejudice against the Oberlin College has been removed by a visit to the institution. The course of training and stnaies pursuea unere appear ad- mirably calculated o rear up a class of healthy,

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useful, self-educated and self-relying men and women-a class which the poor man's son and daughter may enter on equal terms with oth- ers, with an opportunity to outstrip in the race, as they often do. It is the only college in the United States where females enjoy the privileges of males in acquiring an education, and where degrees are conferred on ladies ; and this peculiar feature of the instruction has proved highly useful. By combining manual labor with study, the physical system keeps pace with the mind in strength and de- velopment, and the result in most cases is "sound minds in healthy bodies." Labor and attention to household duties are made familiar and honorable, and pleased as we were to note the intelligent and healthful countenances of the young ladies seated at

the boarding- house dinner table, the gratifica- tion was heightened shortly after by observing the same graceful forms clad in tidy, long aprons, and busily engaged in putting the dining-hall in order. And the literary exer- cises of the same ladies proved that the labor of the hands in the institution had been no hindrance in the acquisition of knowledge.

Young in years as is Oberlin, the institu- tion has sent abroad many well-qualified and diligent laborers in the great moral field of the world. Her graduates may be found in nearly every missionary clime, and her schol- ars are active co-workers in many of the phil- anthropie movements that distinguish the age. It is the people's college, and long may it prove an increasing blessing to the people. - Old Edition.

OBERLIN is nine miles southwest of Elyria, on the L. S. & M. S. Railroad. It is the seat of Oberlin College and Oberlin Conservatory of Music. City officers, 1888 : C. A. Metcalf, Mayor ; W. P. M. Gilbert, Clerk ; H. H. Barnum, Treasurer ; I. L. Newton, Marshal ; D. G. Probert, Street Commissioner. News- papers : Lorain County Exponent, Prohibitionist, L. Webster, editor ; News, Re- publican, William H. Pearce, editor and publisher ; Review, Colored, Union Li- brary Association, editors and publishers ; Faith Missionary, Evangelist, O. M. Brown, editor and publisher ; Bibliotheca Sacra, Congregationalist, G. Frederick Wright, W. G. Ballantine and Frank H. Foster, editors. Churches : two Con- gregationalist, two Methodist, one Baptist, one Episcopal. Bank : Citizens' Na- tional, Montraville Stone, president ; Charles H. Randall, cashier. Population, 1880, 3,242. School census, 1888, 1,260 ; George W. Waite, school superin- tendent.

The founders of Oberlin were not originally abolitionists, but rather favored the colonization scheme. They were Whigs in politics. About the year 1835 it received a great impulse from accessions from Lane Seminary, which institution was for the time broken up because the students there had been forbidden by the - trustees to discuss the subject of slavery. Four-fifths of the Lane students in consequence left, and most of them, with Professor Morgan and Rev. Asa Mahan, also Rev. Mr. Finney, of New York city, came to Oberlin. Here was then es- tablished for their wants a theological department, and, by their suggestion, a rule adopted that all persons irrespective of color should be admitted into the seminary. This, with large donations from Arthur Tappan, of New York, and other abolitionists, enabled them to put up the necessary buildings, and placed the institution on a lasting foundation. At Oberlin the subject of immediate abolition was then freely discussed, with the result of converting the Oberlin people to the views of the seceders of Lane, so that Oberlin soon became a live from which swarmed forth lecturers under the auspices of the American Anti-Slavery Society. Through the influence largely of Oberlin, Northern Ohio became strongly leavened with anti-slavery sentiment, finding devoted friends, bitter enemies and encounter- ing ferocious mobs.

Oberlin was not designed as an institution for blacks. But its founders, taking the teach- ings of Christ as their guide, could not find any reason for their exclusion, and so they were admitted. Of the 20,000 different pu- pils from the beginning, 19,000 have been whitc. Of both sexes only sixty colored per- sons, thirty-two males and twenty-eight fe- males, have completed a course.

Oberlin has always been a temperance com- munity. Tobacco is prohibited. If used by

a student, he is required to resign. No moni- torial system is adopted ; no grading of schol- arship and no distribution of honors. For the first twenty-five years a majority of the grad- utes supported themselves by school-teaching and manual labor, and many now do the same. At the beginning seventy-five cents a week was paid for board in the hall, if the stu- dents dispensed with meat ; twenty-five cents was added for meat twice a day. Then the entire expense of living, aside from clothing,

SLAB HALL. OBERLIN.

The beginnings of a College in the woods.

Drawn by Henry Howe in 1846.

COLLEGE BUILDINGS, OBERLIN.

The building with a tower on the right was the only one standing in 1886.

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ranged from fifty-eight to eighty-nine dollars during the forty weeks of term time. Now board can be had for three dollars per week. The average annual expense of a student, outside of clothing, etc., is about two hun- dred and fifty dollars.

The teaching of music, more especially sa- cred music, is now a prominent feature here. The number of teachers Oberlin has sent forth, as well as missionaries to foreign lands, is extraordinary, probably unequalled any- where.

The central idea of Oberlin was as a mis- sionary centre. In this idea not education,

but religion. Christianity, as comprehensive, active, aggressive and progressive, is supreme. The Oberlin philosophy as defined by Mr. Finney was that "the foundation of moral obligation is the good of being, and that true virtue or righteousness consists in willing this good of being, including one's own, so that the whole life will be devoted to its promo- tion. This is the love enjoined in the Scrip- tures, the fulfilling of the law." In other words, the true end of life is found in doing good, and that was the principle on which Oberlin was founded. The education of youth had that as its sole aim.

Oberlin was an important station on the underground railroad, and of the mul- titudes of fugitives who came, not one was ever finally taken back to bondage. Every device was resorted to for their concealment and safe embarkation to Canada. Says President Fairchild in his work, "Oberlin, the Colony and the College :"

"Not to deliver to his master the servant that had escaped from his master, seemed to the people of Oberlin a solemn and pressing duty. This attitude exposed the college and the community to much reproach, and some- times apparently to serious danger. Threats came from abroad that the college buildings should be burned. A Democratic Legislature at different times agitated the question of re- pealing the college charter. The fourth and last attempt was made in 1843, when the bill for repeal was indefinitely postponed in the House by a vote of thirty-six to twenty-nine.

"The people in the neighboring towns were, at the outset, not in sympathy with Oberlin in its anti-slavery position. They agreed with the rest of the world in regarding it as unmiti- gated fanaticism. The feeling was often bitter and intense, and an Oberlin man going out from home in any direction was liable to be assailed with bitter words ; and if he ventured to lecture upon the unpopular theme, he was fortunate if he encountered words only. Of course the self-respectful part of the commu- nity would take no part in such abuse, but fellows of the baser sort felt themselves sus- tained by the common feeling. On the Mid-

dle Ridge road, six miles north of Oberlin, a guide-board put by the authorities stood for years, pointing the way to Oberlin, not by the ordinary index finger, but by the full-length figure of a fugitive running with all his might to reach the place. The tavern sign, four miles east, was ornamented on its Oberlin face with the representation of a fugitive slave pursued by a tiger. Where the general feeling yielded such result, not much could be expected in the way of sympathy for fugitives. But even among these people the slave-catcher had little favor. They would thwart his pursuit in every way, and shelter the fugitive if they could. Only the meanest and most mercenary could be hired to betray the victim. Now and then an official felt called upon to extend aid and comfort to the slave-hunter who claimed his service, but he could expect no toleration from his neighbors in such a course. A whole neighborhood would suddenly find themselves abolitionists upon the appearance of a slave-hunter among them, and by re- peated occurrences of this kind, as much as by any other means, Lorain county and all of Northern Ohio became, at length, intensely anti-slavery in feeling and action."

It was on a Saturday afternoon in July that I approached Oberlin in the cars ; the tall spires loomed up on a perfectly level country half a mile from the depot. On alighting I was accosted by an old lady, perhaps sixty years old, with a basket of fresh newspapers which she was selling. She had a refined face, and the in- congruity of her vocation, with her evident cultivation, was striking as she pre- sented a countenance aglow with its best selling-smile. I was told she had a green-house near by and cultivated flowers, and this was a diversion.

Eccentricities are to be expected in such a place as Oberlin, with its extraordinary his- tory, which began fifty years ago, outraging popular ideas of that day on the questions of the equal claims of all men, irrespective of race, and the co-education of the sexes ; and with the result of winning a topmost position in the regards of the regardful. I believe Oberlin has sent forth more female teachers to our own country, and more missionaries to foreign lands, than any other spot anywhere.

Oberlin is well spread out for the uses of its peculiar population, whose business is the capture of knowledge, and not for learning's sake, but for its use in the amelioration of hu- man woe. The walk to the centre was through a fine avenue of homes, homes largely without fences, open to view ; some with luxuriant arbor vitæ hedges. Their odor was fragrant, and grateful was the sight of plump-bodied robins hopping on the lawns.

Arrived at the centre I found a surprising

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change. The newness, the crudity of the old time had vanished ; but one of the buildings shown in the view of 1846 is standing. The square is an open space of some twelve acres, the college buildings mainly detached, and in scattered spots around it. These are noble structures of Amherst and LaGrange sand- stone ; no material can be more elegant or more substantial ; the old signs of a poor and struggling institution had vanished.

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Historical collections of Ohio in two volumes, an encyclopedia of the state, Volume II, Part 16

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio Number of Pages: 916

Author: Howe, Henry, 1816-1893
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: Cincinnati : Published by the state of Ohio
Number of Pages: 916