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The Wilson Bruce Evans House, 33 East Vine Street, is a rare example of a residence built and occupied by an African American abolitionist and Underground Railroad operative. Free-born in North Carolina, Wilson Bruce Evans (1824-1898) moved to Oberlin in 1854. A skilled cabinetmaker, he opened a carpentry shop with his brother, Henry (1817-1886). Together they completed the original house by 1856. At the center of Oberlin’s interracial antislavery politics, Evans defied the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, and was indicted for his part in the 1858 Oberlin-Wellington Rescue. During the Civil War, Evans enlisted in the predominantly white 178th O.V.I., serving August 1864-June 1865. The Wilson Bruce Evans House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, and named a National Historic Landmark in 1997. (Continued on the other side)
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Established in 1851 after the addition of the Cincinnati, Hamilton, and Dayton Railway, Glendale incorporated in 1855 as Ohio’s first planned community and one of the nation’s first planned villages. The original planning included forested greenbelts and parks, curvilinear streets meandering around established trees, large lots, and superior building standards. Glendale is designated as a National Historic Landmark community from the Department of Interior and a Certified Local Government through the Ohio Historic Preservation Office, all owed to Glendale’s persistent adherence to the plan and faithful preservation of original infrastructure. Much of today’s preserved infrastructure includes the original 59 pivotal buildings, curvilinear streets, tree canopy, stone gutters, gas streetlights, and railroad depot.
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The Ohio and Erie Canal was Ohio’s solution to the lack of a reliable and fast transportation system to move goods to outside markets. The canal opened in the then unplatted village of Groveport on September 25, 1831 and contributed directly to Groveport’s success as a center of commerce. W.H. Richardson built lock 22, the only lock in Groveport, as part of his bid to build section 52 of the canal. Lock 22, the last lock before a series of locks in Lockbourne, Ohio that lower the canal to the level of Big Walnut Creek, is 90 feet long with a 15 foot wide lock channel. A variety of businesses clustered along the banks of the canal. In the mid-nineteenth century, a canal boatyard and dry dock was operated in what is now Blacklick Park. Canal boats were built and repaired in this facility that was considered the first notable such operation on the canal below Baltimore, Ohio.
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The Erie Terminal Building, constructed 1921-1922, serviced both the Erie and Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railways and area commerce. The design, by Swiss-born, Youngstown architect Paul Boucherle (1882-1966), is in the Commercial Style with simple classical details. The six-story building housed a passenger railroad station on the first floor and Erie Railway offices on the fifth and sixth floors. A one-story commercial bay faced Commerce Street and was the home of the International Bank and later the Morris Plan Bank. The widening of Commerce Street removed the bay in 1939. Once named the Hamory Building for its financial backer, Gustave Hamory, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 and renovated in 2012, creating apartments in the upper floors and restoring the first-story railway spaces.
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Landscape architect Howard Daniels designed the original portion of Green Lawn Cemetery in 1848. Noted Columbus architect Frank Packard designed Green Lawn’s Chapel mausoleum, the Hayden family mausoleum, and the Packard mausoleum. Spanning over 360 acres, the cemetery’s wooded setting provides a habitat for a variety of birds and other wildlife. The Chapel contains stunning stained glass windows and mosaic artwork by Tiffany & Company of New York. The monuments, obelisks, and memorials throughout the cemetery represent a wealth of artwork and a history of Columbus. As one of the oldest and largest cemeteries in Ohio, Green Lawn is the resting-place of many noted individuals who have made significant contributions to Columbus, Franklin County and the nation.
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The Berea Union Depot, a significant hub in the railroad networks of northeast Ohio from the time of its construction in 1876 until its closing in 1958, is an unusual, but well-designed example of Victorian Gothic Architecture. With the development of an expanding stone quarry industry in the area, Berea and its railroad facilities grew rapidly and by the early 1870s developers and townspeople alike called for construction of a new passenger and freight station. When this Berea sandstone station was completed and then dedicated on May 3, 1876, the Cleveland Plain Dealer called the building “the finest facility outside the big cities.” From 1958 until 1980, the building remained closed until it began a second life, restored as a restaurant and gathering place.
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After the Revolutionary War, our first President, George Washington, advocated the construction of a road linking cities in the United States from east to west. In 1806, President Thomas Jefferson signed legislation authorizing the road. The National Road was the nation’s first federally funded highway and was intended to link Cumberland, Maryland to St. Louis, Missouri. The Enabling Act of 1802, which led to the creation of the state of Ohio, contained a provision that allowed for some money from the sale of federal lands to be used for construction of the road to Wheeling on the Ohio River. Contracts were given in 1811 and the National Road was completed through Columbus by 1833. Construction stopped in Vandalia, Illinois due to the popularity of canals, increased railroad usage, and lack of funds. The 591-mile corridor passes through six states: Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.
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The original pioneer structure of this house was built by Arora Buttles in 1811. It was purchased by Orange and Achsa Johnson in 1816. Orange Johnson came from Connecticut as a comb maker; he became a farmer, landowner, turnpike commissioner, paymaster for the militia, banker, and railroad stockholder. In 1819 the Federal style addition was constructed on the west side of the pioneer house, and the Johnsons continued to live here until 1863. Restored and owned by the Worthington Historical Society.
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