Oberlin Heritage Center facts for kids

The Oberlin Heritage Center is a special place in Oberlin, Ohio. It's like a museum that helps people learn about the town's amazing history. This organization is run by a group of people who want to keep Oberlin's stories alive for everyone. They get support from many members and donations.

Exploring Oberlin's Historic Sites

The Oberlin Heritage Center has three important old buildings you can visit. These buildings help you step back in time! You can take a tour to learn about life in Oberlin from the 1830s to the early 1900s. The tours also teach about African American history, the Underground Railroad, and the history of women. You can also learn about scientific discoveries and important movements like the Temperance movement.

The Monroe House: A Home for Change-Makers

The Monroe House is a brick house built in 1866. It's designed in a style called Italianate. This house was first owned by General Giles W. Shurtleff. He led the first African-American army group from Ohio during the American Civil War. Later, the house became the home of James Monroe and his wife, Julia Finney Monroe. James Monroe was a very important person. He worked to end slavery and fought for African-Americans to have the right to vote. He was also a friend of Frederick Douglass, a famous abolitionist. Monroe taught at Oberlin College, worked as a U.S. Consul in Brazil, and served five times as a U.S. Congressman. Mrs. Monroe was the daughter of Charles Grandison Finney, a big religious leader at Oberlin College.

The Jewett House: Where Aluminum Was Discovered

The Jewett House is a brick Victorian-style home. It was the home of Frank Fanning Jewett, a chemistry professor at Oberlin College. His wife, Sarah Frances Gulick Jewett, wrote many books about health. The Jewetts and later owners rented rooms to male students from Oberlin College. These students slept in the attic and studied on the second floor. One of Professor Jewett's students was Charles Martin Hall. He discovered an affordable way to make aluminum for commercial use. You can see an exhibit at the house called "Aluminum: The Oberlin Connection." It even has a re-creation of Hall's 1886 experiment in a woodshed!

The Little Red Schoolhouse: Education for Everyone

The Little Red Schoolhouse was the very first public school in Oberlin. What's amazing is that this school was open to all children, no matter their race, right from the start. This was even though Ohio had "Black Laws" at the time. Sarah Margru Kinson, a young girl who was on the famous La Amistad ship, later came back to America. She became one of the first African students to attend this school. Today, the Little Red Schoolhouse looks like a pioneer-era one-room school. Visitors can experience what life and education were like in the 1800s.

How the Oberlin Heritage Center Began

The Oberlin Heritage Center has a long history. It started with two groups. The Oberlin Village Improvement Society began in 1903. Its goal was to make the town more beautiful. The Oberlin Historical Society started in 1960. This group worked to save the Little Red Schoolhouse and the Monroe House. In 1964, these two volunteer groups joined together. They became the Oberlin Historical and Improvement Organization (O.H.I.O.). The organization grew, and in 1993, they hired their first professional staff. In 2005, the group changed its name to "The Oberlin Heritage Center."

Today, the Oberlin Heritage Center is a small but important museum. In 2006, it was chosen to be part of the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Partner Places program. The National Park Service also recognized the Oberlin Heritage Center in 2004. They named it a facility on their National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom. This means it's an important stop on the historic path to freedom.