Oberlin College - Hi-O-Hi Yearbook (Oberlin, OH)

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1, ...Q 1. sa a 1 The Campus in 1860 in the rear of which was a gallery. It was constructed outside and in like a church, and unfortunately its acoustic properties were poor, until it was reconstructed by throwing out an addition at the side to give a platform for the faculty, and arranging the seats in semicircular rows rising at the back. Every student had then a good view of the stand and could distinctly hear the speaker. It had a seating capacity of only nine hundred and the need of more ample quarters was felt before the fire of l903 destroyed the building. The anti-slavery sentiments of the colonists were widely known. Oberlin was a noted station on the Underground Railroad to Canada. It was a city of refuge from which no fugitive was ever taken back to a life of bondage. In l.858 occurred the Oberlin-Wellington rescue of john Price, from his slave holding captors. This violation of the Fugitive Slave Law was taken bythe owner of John Price tothe Circuit Court of Cleve- land, and indictments were served upon twenty-four citizens of Oberlin and thirteen of Wellington. Fourteen of them, refusing to give bail, were held as prisoners in Cleveland jail for nearly three months. Among them were some of the most prominent and highly respected citizens of Oberlin. Professor H. E. Peck was a member of the college faculty, M. Fitch, superintendent of the large Sunday School, and Ralph Plumb, a lawyer. When the Civil War broke out and Abraham Lincoln called for volunteers, Oberlin was prompt to respond. Slavery was in rebellion against the government and slavery must be put clown. One hundred and thirty students were ready to go, but only one hundred could be received. For two days there were no college exercises. Groups of women gathered in the recitation rooms and made suits of gray cloth for the volunteers. Thus uniformed they were accompanied to the station by almost the entire body of citizens. They were mustered into service as Company C of the 7th Regiment, Ohio I5

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1. - ... . .,,, . ., .. K -0 1 X.--ff I r 1-,,4p5fji1'I'--f'W' A135-:Jef-.I ' Af-, -77 ,X ,t 'l' Fl- '-1 , .ff. E' T . .F VE., 1514, Y... '34 :Fifi , 3 a characteristic of the President. Preoccupied with high thoughts, he was very forgetful of names, f., yet so friendly in his disposition Geology and Natural History. There was no organ or piano in town when he came. X fy r. H..:fH:f',' , that it was his habit to speak to V :gg TVL1-445,25 X' .f?.j,'7 -.5 I .,.-L, everybody he met. Out for his 3, fy --. . Niifgkqp ji: as 1 ,gr-fsgggc iii! daily walk, he repeatedly met the 'jj Sr, late Judge Steele, then a young ' ,WH ,,,,gg I ,U .rw my ' -1 5 - - tt 2, rp. -93,1 .1 lf! I ,g:5.ff,. man, with the salutatlon Good , 115' ,Q 1i,tfQgjwQ,g'J ,:,,-'sa rf , -- 1: ,L fag . . ,, ggfigffilx gvf rui u l morning! What IS your name? ---feng., - . swf -cz ' - vi f-5 55. ff--' x . -g 1:41 5, ,- . M . . - .1 - - iff? 1 , - 'af f'ef :af f ff Fdllf- Weary of the -repetition, young Music Han Steele ventured one day to give a new name, John Smith. The new name surprised the President and jogged his memory. Fixing his piercing eyes on the young man he said, john Steele, how you do liell' The musical interest of' the early Oberlin must be credited to the efforts of George N. Allen, who was appointed teacher of Sacred Music in IS37, and later was elected Professor. He had been a pupil of Lowell Mason, of Boston, and was naturally a musical genius, but his compensation was only half a salary, as there was added to his duties, at first, the superintendence of the Preparatory Department and, later, instruction in The Trustees had decided that it piano music. Prof. Allen trained the choir of the church. ln 1841, of this and later concerts paid for of the older professors. He saw provided. was inexpedient for the college to afford instruction in an orchestra of wind and stringed instruments, and led a concert was given at Commencement. The proceeds an organ for the church, the chapel bell, and portraits that pianos were purchased and competent instructors By uniting with the college literary societies, he secured the frame structure known as the Music l-lall, about the size of the Laboratory, which stood on the west side of South Professor Street, not far from the site of Baldwin Cottage. Here he trained classes in vocal music and laid the foundations for the future Conservatory. The Oberlin hymn Must Jesus Bear the Cross Alone,', and the tune to which it is sung, which Professor Allen com- posed, have kept his name in remem- , brance among his successive genera- tions oif' students. A new college chapel was completed in IS55. On the first floor were offices, lecture rooms, a literary society room, and a library. The auditorium was on the second floor with the platform at one end, Qld Laboratory I4

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Volunteer lnfantry. Their captain was G. W. Shurtleff, tutor of Latin. Nearly one- third of them, with their captain were captured in the first engagement and had a bitter experience of southern prisons. Thirty-one of the remainder lost their lives in battle, seven by disease, and one was drowned. Company C was known in the army as the praying companyf, Each mess had a chaplain responsible for daily worship. Another company from Oberlin joined the 4lst O. V. l., and the Znd Ohio Cavalry was largely made up of Oberlin students and citizens. A. P. Nettleton, O. C., '63, rose from the rank of private to the command of this regiment and at the close of the war was brevetted a brigadier general. wi Q Second Ladies' Hall The second Ladies' l-lall, when opened in 1865, was decidedly the finest of the college buildings. It cost with the furniture of the private rooms, 540,000.00 lVlore,i' safd President Fairchild, than all the buildings previously erected by the college. It stood on the corner of West College and South Professor streets, with a frontage on each of l2l feet. It was of three stories, had accommodations for one hundred young women, and on the first floor a society room, assembly room, and reading room. lr was admirably adapted to its uses and great regret was felt when it was burned down in january, ISS6. President Fairchild described this building as of npleasing aspect. It was the first of' the college buildings of which this could truly be said. lts erection may therefore properly mark the boundary line between the old Oberlin and the new. A brighter day was about to dawn upon the college, a day of better buildings and more adequate equipment, of instructors with more varied knowledge and more liberal views. The present body oi students are enjoying the full radiance of that brighter day. Only by strong effort of the imagination can they picture to themselves the hardships and toils of the pioneers who laid the foundations of the early Oberlin and made possible the growth and enlargement of succeeding years. Others have labored and ye have entered into their labors.',-Mrs. Mary B. Shurtleff. INOTE -The facts in this sketch have been largely gathered from President Fairchild's Oberlin, the Colony and the College anrl Dr. D. L. Leonarrl's 'tThe Story of Oberlin. I I6