Oberlin College: The First Century

Oberlin College was founded in 1833.  This tour introduces visitors to the College's early history, including the founders' decisions to admit women alongside men and to admit blacks  alongside whites.  The tour also discusses the role of Charles Grandison Finney, the College's first professor of theology, in attracting students to this rural outpost in northeast Ohio, as well as the role of students and faculty in the struggle against slavery in the decades leading up to the Civil War.  After the Civil War, many Oberlin graduates engaged in missionary work overseas, and the tour explains the historical significance of Memorial Arch on Tappan Square.  It also discusses the founding of the Conservatory of Music and the importance of Charles Martin Hall's bequest to Oberlin College.  The tour consists of eight stops, all on or near Tappan Square. The tour was developed under the auspices of the Oberlin College Archives and the Coalition for Oberlin History.