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The intersection of Main and College streets has been the center of Oberlin since the town and college were founded in 1833. The first downtown buildings were made of wood and were destroyed by a series of spectacular fires. The first college building, Oberlin Hall, stood on the southwest corner of College and Main and included recitation rooms, a dining hall, chapel, offices, and lodging. In 1887, Akron architect Frank Weary designed the large brick building at numbers 5 to 13 West College. Number 23 West College (Gibson Block) once housed a silent movie theater on the second floor. East College Street’s historic buildings include the Apollo Theater, which showed Oberlin’s first talking movie on May 11, 1928. From 1897 to 1929, an interurban streetcar line connected Oberlin’s downtown to Cleveland. Oberlin’s downtown historic district was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
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At the time of his death in 1922, Colonel Charles Young was the highest ranking African American officer in the United States Army. In 1894, almost five years after graduating West Point, then thirty year-old 2nd Lt. Young was appointed professor of Military Science and Tactics at Wilberforce University. Young organized the military science department and established the university’s marching band. He also taught other courses, including French, chemistry, and geology. Young was promoted to 1st lieutenant in 1896. (Continued other side)
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The Toledo University of Arts and Trades was established in 1872 with an endowment of 160 acres of land from Jesup W. Scott, local pioneer, publisher, and real estate broker. Scott envisioned Toledo as the “Future Great City of the World” and wanted an institution to train young people to fulfill their roles in the city’s bright future.
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Lester Allan Pelton, “the Father of Hydroelectric Power,” was born on September 5, 1829, a quarter of a mile northwest of this site. He spent his childhood on a farm a mile south of this site and received his early education in a one-room schoolhouse that once sat north of this site. In the spring of 1850, he and about twenty local boys, left for California during the great gold rush west. Pelton did not find gold, but instead invented what was commonly known as “the Pelton Water-Wheel,” which produced the first hydroelectric power in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California in 1887. The Water-Wheel was patented on August 27, 1889. Currently variations of it are still commonly used to generate electric power throughout the world. Pelton died in California on March 14, 1908. He is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Vermilion.
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Interest in the new field of aeronautics grew dramatically when the United States entered the World War I in 1917. The army chose Dayton as the site for a research-and-development program for military aviation because of the area’s transportation links to major cities and its engineering and testing facilities. McCook Field, north of downtown between Keowee Street and the Great Miami River, was charged with researching, developing, and testing military airplanes and accessories. For nearly a decade, many advancements in aviation occurred at McCook Field. They included new aircraft, controllable-pitch propellers, bulletproof gas tanks, free-fall parachutes, and night-observation cameras. In the 1920s, larger and more-powerful aircraft overwhelmed the small field, which featured a large sign to warn pilots: “This field is small. Use it all.” In 1927, aeronautical engineering was transferred to newly-created Wright Field, now a part of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
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The Cuyahoga County Fair, first known as the West Cuyahoga County Fair, has been held at this site since 1895. Agricultural fairs, exhibiting the best techniques for producing better crops and livestock, have been part of Cuyahoga County’s history from its early years. As Cleveland became an industrial center, fairs moved from the city to more rural areas of the county. By 1928, with the closure of fairs in Chagrin Falls and Dover, Berea hosted the only fair in the county. Although the Fair was not held during the Great Depression in 1932 or in the World War II years of 1942 and 1943, the Fair has thrived to reach proportions rivaling the Ohio State Fair. The goal of the Cuyahoga County Fair remains to exhibit, to educate, and to demonstrate agribusiness products and techniques from the past, present, and future in a festive atmosphere for all generations.
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During the American Revolution, Fort Laurens became the only Continental military fort in what would later be Ohio. Continental army troops and militia, led by General Lachlan McIntosh, built the fort between November-December 1778. Named for the president of the Continental Congress, Henry Laurens, the army intended to use the fort to launch an offensive against British-held Fort Detroit, observe enemy movements, and stage attacks on British-allied Indian villages. To fulfill terms in the “Treaty with the Delaware” (1778), McIntosh chose a site about two miles south of the “Great Crossing” on the Tuscarawas River in friendly Lenape (Delaware) territory. (Continued on other side)
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The Peter J. Miller House was constructed around 1830 and is one of the last remaining pre-Civil War lakefront houses in Lorain County. The architecture is Greek Revival. Peter Miller married Ruth Houseworth in 1828. They had five children. In 1851 Peter Miller died and it’s believed that his family continued to reside on the property until 1925. The City of Avon Lake purchased the property in 1962. The house was opened for tours, and restoration proceeded, as funds were available. In 1975 the water heating system burst and caused extensive damage. In 1985 a new committee took over and was successful in restoring the house. Volunteer trustees have overseen the operation of the house as a museum since September 1989.
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