City of Oberlin Historic Landmarks


Gardner House 1886 189 Forest Home of John Gardner, local pharmacist. He lived here until 1917. In 1929 the house was purchased by Chester Yeaton, Oberlin College Professor of mathematics, and Ethel Yeaton, Professor of philosophy, who died in 1941. Chester Yeaton and Marie Johnson, mathematics professor, married in 1943. She lived here through 1970. Well preserved Queen Anne style, with large bay window facing street, east-facing stained glass window, front door with sidelights and transom, diagonal clapboard siding below first story windows, hip roof with arched window in gable at center front.	Andrus House 1908 251 Forest Home of the Reverend Jonathan Andrus, later of the Yocom family, local merchants. From 1966 to 1978 home of Evan and Cindy Nord, who worked for historic preservation and other causes. Architect: Daniel Reamer, son of Reamer Place developer.

Hollingsworth House c. 1873 37 Groveland Home of Richard Hollingsworth, a carpenter who lived here for 30 years beginning about 1895. The gable end of the house features a first-floor bay window and second-floor double window, both supported by brackets. Gingerbread under the cornice has fleur-de-lis and clover patterns. Doorway on east-side porch has arched sidelights. Vernacular style.	Rust United Methodist Church 1915-1916 128 Groveland Oldest predominately black congregation in Oberlin moved to frame building on this site in 1875 as Second Methodist Episcopal Church. Present building has two remnants of the earlier church: bell and large stained-glass rose window on the east wall.

Smith-Baumann House c. 1890 64 East Lorain Home of Henry F. Smith, who opened Gem pharmacy in 1893, became vice-president of People’s Bank in 1906, served on city council, and in 1922 was elected mayor. Smith sold the property to Albert and Zaidee Baumann in 1948. Queen Anne style with tower, wrap-around porch, and foyer chimney that encircles a stained-glass window.	West House 1881 461 West Lorain Home of Amasa West, who farmed the land from West Lorain to Morgan and delivered coal in town until 1919. House often opened to tourists during the Depression, then a duplex; land subdivided in the 1950s for the Robin Park development. Now a combined professional office and residence. Red brick Italianate style.

First Church 1842 N.W. Corner Main and Lorain First church in Oberlin, often called the meetinghouse, early center of community life. Charles G. Finney, evangelist and later Oberlin College president, served as pastor for 37 years. For many decades the largest religious structure in the Western Reserve. Site of addresses by nationally prominent speakers from Frederick Douglass to Woodrow Wilson. Built from plans by Richard Bond, prominent New England architect; tower from design of Asher Benjamin pattern book. Greek Revival style.	Commercial Block 1882 S.E. Corner Main and College Built after a great downtown fire, shows new trends in commercial architecture of the time: iron skeleton of supporting columns and crossbeams, smooth pressed brick (“Chicago brick”) exterior facing, and big plate-glass windows in the store fronts. Corner occupied by bookstore, later by bank. Architect: Walter Blythe of Cleveland.

Union School (New Union Center for the Arts) 1874 39 South Main Oberlin’s high school from 1874 to 1923; then Westervelt Hall, an Oberlin College classroom building until 1961. Extensively renovated and converted to an arts center in 1996. Tower reconstructed in 1997. Major example of Victorian Gothic. Architect: Walter Blythe of Cleveland.	Post Office 1934 68 South Main Built here through influence of Oberlin College trustee Grove Patterson, editor of Toledo newspaper and friend of U.S. Postmaster, this building’s quasi-classical exterior was first in Oberlin to follow federal government guidelines for public buildings. Tan brick trimmed with Kipton sandstone; fluted Doric columns frame the entry. Architect: Alfred Hahn of Toledo.