Driving to the 45th

When I attended Oberlin College (1955-1959), I lived for 3 years in the Grey Gables co-op. In 1969, when we were living in Philadelphia, I came out for our tenth reunion. I found out that Grey Gables had been torn down and there was nothing there but a grass lot. This made me very sad. (When I came back this year (2004) it was the Grey Gables parking lot)

Then on the left 1958 and Now in 2004

I did most of the reunion activities, but I didn't really meet any of my good friends there, and so it wasn't much fun and I didn't really want to go back. And the time (Memorial Day weekend) hasn't been convenient what with children's graduations etc.

But my junior year roommate has been trying to get me to come for a reunion for several years. She was in the class of 1958, and we have 'cluster' reunions. This would be our last cluster together for some time (58-59-60) because in 2005 my cluster would be 59-60-61 and who knew if we would last until the 50th. So I gave in and convinced my husband to drive out there.

I tried to do it cheaply, so I only registered for a dorm room and for the picnic on Saturday night

Registration $25.00 each
Dorm Room $36.00 for two
Reunion Picnic $36.00 for two
and we were leaving Sunday morning to try to get partway home without having to fight too much Memorial Day traffic.

Thursday May 27, 2004 - Start of Oberlin Trip

In order to avoid the rush traffic on Friday, we started off on Thursday May 27th and took two nights to do the 530 mile trip.After we fueled up the car (diesel at $1.78/gal), we drove up through Croom to US 301, and from there to I-97. We took route 100 over to I-95, and then took I-70 west.

We stopped for lunch at McDonalds in New Market after 100 miles. Lunch for two was $6.54. We left McDonalds at 12:11 and at 1318 after another 65 miles, we stopped at the Sideling Hill Visitor's Center just west of Hancock. The Visitor's Center is free

I-68 climbing up to Sideling Hill

When they constructed I-68, they cut through some of the hills. Sideling Hill is one of those places and it shows all the rock layers along the cut.

Rock layers exposed

From picnic and parking area

Directional sign for visitor's center

You can get to the Visitor's Center from the east bound side of the road by parking and walking across the pedestrian bridge.

Walkway from the east side to the west side

I-68 from the Visitor's Center

Mountains from the Visitor's Center

Here we went to the bathroom, picked up brochures, and looked at the exhibits about the geology and geography of the area,

Mountain Vista - mountains that we see from the center are labeled

Rock core with animal fossil time line

Board showing how you would have gotten over this mountain in the past - Vehicle, Road, and available construction equipment

Rock layer model

Walkway up to the mountain

Looking down at the viewing area

and left at 1343.

Bob walking back to our car

After we left the Visitor's Center we went on through Cumberland

From the bridge to the river

and entered West Virginia a little before 1500 (3 pm)

Warning signs (5% grade) on I-68 in WV

Cheat Lake

and headed toward Morgantown to spend the night.

We got off at exit 7 of I-68 (we could see the Bob Evan's restaurant in the shopping center from the road) and got fuel in the car at BFS foods (9.35 gals of diesel at $1.86/gal).

OBFS building

Mall clock

We checked into the Super 8 about 1530 (3:30 pm)

Super 8 sign

after a total trip of 275 miles. Total room cost $68.75 including tax.

Bob lying on the bed

We were both too tired to actually go sightseeing like I had intended to do and the weather was sort of overcast. So we walked across the road (a feat in itself - walking was not a mode of transportation that the planners of this place had envisioned) to Outback Steakhouse for dinner ($42.15) instead of going downtown and walking along the river.

Bob walking to Outback

Map and toy inside Outback

Ruby Tuesday across from the motel

May 28, 2004 - Friday- Stop in East Liverpool

I realized that I had no maps for West Virginia or Ohio, and no really current information on Pennsylvania, but I thought that by the time I found it, the AAA would be closed on Thursday evening. So Friday morning, after our free breakfast at the hotel, we checked out at 0842 and got back on the interstate. We found the Morgantown AAA office at 0900, but it was closed until 1000, and we didn't want to wait. We picked up I-70, and, after an abortive attempt to contact the AAA office in Washington PA (I was using an old fashioned cell phone and calling numbers in the AAA book),

Morgantown from the highway

The road dips and curves

Looking up the hillside

tunnel

Exit 0

One way

rain

we crossed the Ohio River

Bridge over the Ohio

and by 1034 were driving up the river on Ohio State Route 7. I called (no GPS or computer mapping in those days) and got directions to the AAA office East Liverpool Ohio on my cellphone,

Approach to East Liverpool

and once there got travel guides to PA/NJ; Mid Atlantic (MD, VA, DE, DC), and OH/ IL,/IN, and maps to PA, OH, and WV.

History of East Liverpool: In 1795. Thomas Fawcett bought land along the Ohio River from Isaac Craig and planned a town which he named St. Clair, after Authur St. Clair, Govenor of the Northwest Territory at the time. The town residents of St. Clair changed the name to Fawcettstown. In 1816, the name was changed again to Liverpool by nostalgic English potters. In 1834 when the town was incorporated, the town was renamed East Liverpool to avoid confusion with the Liverpool in Medina County Ohio. Because the area was surrounded by deposits of clay and coal, the city prospered and became well-known for its ceramics. At one time, "America's Crockery City" made half of the nations pottery. The the industry has declined since 1930. East Liverpool was the location for the capture and killing in 1934 of Pretty Boy Floyd, a 30's gangster.

After we picked up our maps and guidebooks, we left the car in the AAA parking lot (one of the few places in town where parking was free) and strolled around town a bit

Bob walking ahead of me to look for lunch

Carnegie Library

Oberlin Ohio where I went to school has or had a Carnegie Library. It isn't the only one. There are111 libraries which were given to Ohioans by the steel king and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie during the years 1898 to 1918.

This is the Carnegie Public Library in East Liverpool. I did not know what it was, although I thought it looked important. Beaver70 very kindly emailed me, "The building that you wondered about is (or was) the Carnegie Public Library. Spent many hours there growing up."

When I knew the name of it, I could find out about it. Their website says:

"The East Liverpool Carnegie Library at 219 E. 4th Street, East Liverpool, Ohio was erected on the Bradshaw Farm property, 199 E. 4th Street, East Liverpool...In 1899 two local businessmen contacted Andrew Carnegie concerning the possibility of a donation to the City of East Liverpool, in order to build a public library. Andrew Carnegie, by now a wealthy businessman and philanthropist, had spent much of his youth in East Liverpool with relatives. Construction of the building began in 1899 after a visit from Carnegie to the city. Designed by A. W. Scott of East Liverpool and constructed by Harvey McHenry the exterior of the building was complete in 1900. The Library was officially opened and dedicated on May 8, 1902."

Lou Holtz/ Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame

This place was totally unexpected - I had never heard about it before. We didn't go in because we were in quest of lunch. I have found no reference to it in any travel literature but they do have a website. It says: "Founded Feb. 13, 1998

"The Lou Holtz/Upper Ohio Valley Hall of Fame was established to showcase individuals and communities throughout the region stretching from Western Beaver County in Pennsylvania to Wheeling, W.Va., for their outstanding contributions in commerce, medicine, politics, sports, entertainment and community enrichment."

looking for a restaurant that the AAA people had recommended. We didn't find it, so we had lunch at Shining Reflections Tea Room for $13.13 (double what we paid yesterday at McDonalds but still not expensive).

Menu

Tearoom

I was not absolutely sure (until I looked up the information on the internet) but I suspected that this restaurant was a training site for mentally/physically handicapped persons. Their website says "Training in Tea Room includes waitressing, baking skills, cash register skills, serving customers, food service and prep., janitorial, hostess, and daily operations of a business."
They are only open for breakfast and lunch. M-F 08:00 AM to 03:00 PM
I had a Hawaiian Chicken salad plate and Bob had a hamburger.

Hawaiian chicken salad plate

Sign in the Restroom

Town square decorated for Memorial Day

Heliocopter flies over the town

American's Hometown Banner on light posts

"America's Hometown"

The banners on the light standards proclaim that this is "America's Hometown". But there are many places that claim this honor (Charles City, Iowa; Cordell, Oklahoma; Muncie, Indiana; and Hannibel, Missouri among others)- East Liverpool is not the only one.

Except for the banners, the only reference I find to the title is on the web page of the Ohio Valley College of Technology which says

"Welcome to one of America's best technology schools located in America's "home town", East Liverpool Ohio.

Then we visited the Ceramics museum which is a 'Must See' in East Liverpool. It cost us $6.50 each and was quite interesting. The Ceramics museum is across the street from the AAA office. The Ceramics museum is housed in the old city post office..

Local cab in front of the Ceramics Museum

Our tour began with a viewing of a 35-minute film presentation on the history of East Liverpool and the pottery industry. The film explained the differences in the manufacture of pottery from primitive yellow ware on through the more automated and refined products to the point when they were producing Lotus Ware..

After that we walked around the museum for about an hour and looked at photographs, pottery examples that the film had explained to us

Pottery with iris

Commemorative plates

Belleck pottery - with a lacy texture

Mugs

Map of pottery factory layout

and the life-size dioramas depicting the jigger shop, kiln and decorating shops.

Jigger Shop Diorama

Kiln area diorama - transporting box on the head

Decorating Area Diorama

Recreation of a sales office with samples

]

Cardboard cutout of a pottery worker

Ceramic Museum ceiling

The museum webpage says that ceramic manufacturing was more important in East Liverpool during the late-nineteenth century than is steel production in Pittsburgh or automobile manufacturing in Detroit today.

Street from Ceramics Museum

After we left East Liverpool, we drove on up towards Youngstown where we got on the Ohio Turnpike (I-80) at 1412 (2:12 pm) which is a toll road. We went west for $2.85 worth to Elyria

Sign at Ohio Turnpike rest stop

When my Dad and Mom drove us out west in 1948, we stopped in Elyria to visit some friends of theirs. Later, when I was a student at Oberlin, Elyria was a sign that I was near to my home away from home. When we could get a ride, a friend and I would occasionally go to Elyria to church because neither of us found a church home in Oberlin.

Elyria was founded in 1816 at the location of two Black River waterfalls on an old Indian trail. Mr. Herman Ely build a sawmill here. It's now the county seat of Lorain Co., maybe because Mr. Ely donated land for the courthouse. That courthouse is now listed on the National Historic Register. Also in Elyria is the Hickories Museum, the restored home of industrialist and pioneer automaker Arthur Garford. His mansion is the headquarters for the Lorain County Historical Society.

We arrived at the Super 8 Motel and checked in at 1534 after a day's trip of 246 miles.

Sign

Entrance

This Super 8 was supposed to have a heated pool, and it was a bit more expensive than last night's motel in Morgantown as it was $75.54 with tax. I checked the pool temperature, but I do not think it was heated.

Pool

The motel itself was better built than the Super 8 in Morgantown, but it wasn't a purpose built Super 8.

The hotel was in a depressed looking area, right off I-80, and the girl on the desk did not seem to know how to give directions when I called, but we found it anyway.

We went out to find a place to eat dinner, and apparently turned the wrong way and had an unenlightening tour of the industrial and residential part of Elyria for 9 miles before we found our way back to the shopping center/eating area. We ate dinner at Fazoli's for $11.61.

Bob walking in

Part of the menu board

Bob getting drinks

Counter and additional menu

Bob's sphagetti and meatballs

Saturday, May 29, 2004

At 0930 Saturday, after a free breakfast, we checked out. We also found out that we could have also gotten directions for the various restaurants last night, but did not because the girl at the desk was uncommunicative and unhelpful. After we got fuel (9.6 gals at $1.71/gal) we set off for Oberlin.

Elyria water tower

We drove in past Presti's . We used to have to cycle or walk out here to get a drink in my time, and there were stories of guys that got disoriented and ended up riding around and around the running track until they sobered up enough to figure out where they were. I understand the there is drinking on campus now, in addition to the fact that they allow students to have cars.

We drove by Tappen Square and noted that there were traffic lights on the corners.

Corner May 2004 with traffic light

I called the reunion folks on the cell phone to ask directions and where to park, and was told that we could park anywhere that there were not "No Parking" signs including in back of Stevenson in the faculty parking lot. So that's what we did, and for the rest of Saturday we walked everywhere.

Stevenson Hall - new since my time

We checked in at Stevenson and got the magnetic keys which allowed us to get into the college building, and also got large name tags to hang around our necks which were color coded according to class. Ours were red.

Then we walked across the street to the reunion check-in and got our room assignment and key. One of the guys doing the check-in used to be at WOBC when I was there. We got a place-mat with the old buildings on it, and the new ones overprinted in red. Some of the buildings were still there but were repurposed

Severence Chemistry Lab

Severence Chem Lab was the scene of some of the low points of my college life. My organic chemistry grades were so bad that I did not know if I would graduate. It was also where the statue of Charles Martin Hall was originally housed.

Severance Chemical Laboratory was the gift of Mr. Louis H. Severance, of Cleveland. The construction was begun in 1899, and the corner stone was laid May 31, 1900. It was dedicated with appropriate exercises September 26,1901. The total cost, including the site, was $75,000. Mr. Severance also provided an endowment of $45,000 for the Chair of Chemistry, and a laboratory fund of $10,720 for the Department of Chemistry.

The Severance Chemical Laboratory is constructed of Ohio sandstone, and is located at the northwest corner of Lorain and Professor Streets. It consists of two wings at right angles to each other, each 72 feet long two stories in height, connected by a tower 27 feet wide and three stories in height. Severance now houses the offices, classrooms, and laboratories of the college's Psychology Department. Chemistry is in the new science building.

Warner Gymnasium

Ground was broken for Warner Gymnasium in August, 1900. It was named in honor of its donors, Dr. and Mrs. Lucien C. Warner, of New York, who provided $45,000 for the building together with an endowment fund of $5,000. They also funded Warner Hall (which was the main Conservatory building on the corner of College Street). An addition to the gymnasium, also provided by Dr. and Mrs. Warner, was completed in March 1912, costing $35,000. Warner Gymnasium was constructed of Ohio sandstone. Patton, Fisher and Miller, of Chicago, were the architects, and George Feick, of Sandusky, the builder.

[Warner Center now houses home to the College's theater and dance department. The second floor holds several practice and performance spaces, while faculty offices can be found on the first floor, along with the box office, with changing rooms and storage areas on the first floor and in the basement.]

And some buildings are just completely gone like

Wright Zoological Laboratory replaced by Bibbins Hall - part of the Conservatory

This was the building where all of the zoology classes were held. It was named in honor of Albert A. Wright who was Professor of Geology and Natural History for thirty-one years. Natural History was probably what they called Biology in those days. It was originally built as the Second Congregational Church between 1867 to 1870, and was used until the union of the First and Second Churches in 1920. The College purchased the building in 1927, removed the steeple, and remodeled the building as a temporary home for the department of Zoology. The choir loft had been converted to a classroom. We sat in tiers looking down on the professor. There was also another classroom. The five labs were in the basement and the library/reading room and offices were in the former pastor's study area. There was a large auditorium where the main part of the church was, and the floor around the edge and in the gallery was occupied by the Zoological Museum which had a lot of stuffed and preserved animals.

This building was not in use when the top picture was taken. It was already scheduled to be torn down.(August 1959). Currently the site is occupied by Bibbins Hall of the Conservatory complex. Now the Zoology department is called the Biology Department and is in the brand new Science building. Some of the old stuffed animals are in display cases there.

Finney Auditorium was still there

Peters Hall was also still there. Ground was broken for Peters Hall in the spring of 1885. It was dedicated January 26, 1887 which makes it one of the oldest buildings still in use on campus. The total cost was about $75,000. Peters Hall is constructed of stone, three stories in height, and was the main classroom building of the College of Arts and Sciences. Its most striking feature is its central hall and stairs, two stories in height. It contained also the Physics laboratories, special accommodations for work in Astronomy, and offices. My freshman advisor had his office in Peters. The Auditorium, formerly known as Bradley Auditorium, now accommodated portions of the laboratory equipment of the departments of Psychology and Physics. I had a psych experiment which required that I had access to Peters at all hours, so I had a building key when I was a senior.

Peters Hall was recently renovated (1997), and now holds state-of-the-art language labs, language department offices and, at the top of the building, an observatory and viewing deck. The Residential Life, Student Academic Support, and Student Academic Affairs offices are also located in Peters.

Peters Hall

The dorm room we were assigned was on the third floor which created a problem for me because I don't do stairs well and there are no elevators. But we went back to the car and shlepped our stuff up the steps.

We had brought a fan but it was cool and we didn't need it, but it wasn't so cool that we needed extra blankets. Our room had a phone jack, but no phone. Bob got a phone from the car so that we could use the phone line in the room, and I figured out how to use the internet on my computer from there too.

I found out where my college roommate was staying on the second floor of the same dorm we were in, but she was out.

Back of Dascomb 2004

So we walked over to Dascomb and had lunch in the cafeteria.

Dascomb Dining Room

Lunch was $13.13 for the two of us (exactly what it was yesterday). It was a flat rate for whatever you wanted to eat. I kept an eye out for my roommate there, but she had gone down to the Tank co-op and had lunch there.

Tank Hall in 2004

Then, since she had expressed a desire to take the tour of the new science builting, we started towards it.

On the way, we saw these folks setting up telescopes on the lawn, and stopped and looked at sunspots, and corona etc.

Astronomers setting up behind Peters 2004

Astonomy set-up for reunion week

It was clear when we were there - my roommate came by later and she said it was too cloudy to do anything when she was there.

We went over to the Carnegie building (formerly the Library)

Carnegie Library spring 1959 with forsythia 2004

because the Conservatory reunion lunch was there, but I did not see my friend there.

in front of Wilder 2004

Science building

Then we went into the new science building and I walked around the building on my own for a bit until it was time for the tour.

Charles Martin Hall's statue

Charles Martin Hall was born December 6, 1863 in Thompson, Ohio. He was son of Rev. Heman Bassett Hall (1823-1910, A.B. 1847, B.D. 1850, A.M. 1866) and Sophronia H. Brooks Hall (1827-1885, Class of 1850, Lit. Course). In 1873 the Hall family moved to Oberlin, Ohio, where Charles Martin Hall supplemented his education by one year in the Oberlin Academy including lessons in the Conservatory of Music. He enrolled in Oberlin College in 1880, and graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in 1885. He was a member of the Oberlin College Board of Trustees from 1905 to his death in 1914. Hall was influenced by his college chemistry professor, Frank Fanning Jewett (1844-1926). Jewett is popularly credited with turning Hall's attention to aluminum through a classroom challenge. However, this story appears to contain more myth than fact.

After graduation Hall continued the work in his Oberlin woodshed laboratory with encouragement from his older sister Julia Brainerd Hall (1859-1926). On February 23, 1886, Hall successfully electrolyzed alumina in a mixture of cryolite and aluminum fluoride, producing several small globules of aluminum metal. On July 9, 1886, he filed a patent for "The Process of Reducing Aluminum by Electrolysis." Hall was a great benefactor of Oberlin, and he was honored by having a statue cast in aluminum which was on display in the chemistry building Severence Hall. Aluminum being very light, his statue was often stolen and placed in compromising situations (like in an outhouse on Peters steps). So the statue was glued to a large granite block and sits more permanently on the second floor of Oberlin's new science center, where students continue to decorate Hall with appropriate trappings on holidays.

When my roommate didn't turn up, we went and sat in this seminar for awhile.

Seminar discussion in new science building

Front of the seminar room

I left just before she came from her tour of the new Environmental building.

After we left the discussion, I found out that my other good friend from Freshman Year was also at this reuinion, and I tried to find where she was staying and could not.

We went back to the dorm, and I left a post-it note on my roommate's door. She called me, and we met in the third floor lounge and talked quite a long time. Now that we can e-mail each other, we are in much more frequent contact - it used to be snail mail at Xmas .

She was staying for the whole weekend, but since she lives in Indiana, it's only a couple of hours drive for her.

We walked over to the picnic together with her and her husband.

Union Street

2004-field

2004 Walking to the picnic Sat

2004 Field House

She had not expected it to be so cool, and she had mostly packed warm weather clothes. I did have a sweater with me.

All classes were at the picnic, which was a kind of 'all you can eat' buffet. They gave us a wristband when we entered which showed that we had paid and were of age to get alcoholic beverages. There were no non-alcoholic or non-carbonated beverages except water. Seating was by cluster.

2004 inside the field house

2004 Saturday reunion 'picnic'

We had a nice time and the picnic and I also caught up with my other good friend. [I found that she was staying in a motel out of town because her husband was afraid to stay where there was no A/C.]

Afterwards, we went back to the dorm. My friend was going to a movie or a concert. I considered going to the class party, but I was tired, and, so Bob and I walked around the square and I took some more pictures.

Bob crossing the street

"Downtown" with tables at Gibson's

Gibson's

Historic Elm site and Carpenter Block

Street with stores

Sidewalk sign in town and bike rack

Storefront

Storefront

Bead Paradise window

Another storefront

2004 Apollo Theatre marque

Oberlin’s best loved historic commercial structure is the 1913 Apollo Theatre. It has housed Oberlin’s first 300-seat theatre and in 1928, the talkies were introduced to Oberlin here. The building was built by Mr. Hobbs, who operated the eastern storefront as the well-appointed Hobbs Restaurant and Bakery. An elegant evening out in Oberlin was dinner at the Hobbs followed by a play, or movie at the Apollo. In 1917 the building was sold to Ira West, who owned another silent movie theatre, The Rex, on South Main. In 1923 the Steele family, who still owns and operates the theatre today, purchased it.

The 1930s style remodel with black vitrolite, black and red brushed aluminum, and a tile walled ticket booth makes this one of Oberlin’s special buildings. If you want to go out of an evening and don't want to attend a play or concert at the college, then this is about it for night life. They used to show "The Wizard of Oz" every fall. From1949 to 1952 (when Hall Auditorium was built) performances of the Oberlin G&S group were held in the Oberlin High School Auditorium or in the Apollo Theatre, At present "Pagan Movie Night" meets at the Apollo for a movie on the first Tuesday of each month. [It doesn't matter what movie is playing]

Oberlin Inn

Hall Auditorium

Allen Art Museum

Former Theology Building

catering tents with Peters in background

Cox Administration Building

New Library

Talcott dorm

Wright Physics Lab

Clark Bandstand - Tappen Square

Tappen Square being readied for graduation

Sunday, May 30, 2004

Sunday morning early, we checked out of the dorm and gave back the magnetic keys. I accidentally left my sweater in the room, which I didn't discover until that night.

Bob then drove around

Art building from the street

Tappen Square Boulder

from a car driving by

and so I could take a picture of Tank Hall (from the car) where I lived as a Freshman,

Tank Dorm in 1959

Tank Hall ( formerly Tank Home) was built at 110 East College Street in 1896 as a home for children of missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. It was named in memory of Mrs. C.L.A. Tank of Green Bay Wisconsin, who gave $10,000 toward its construction. For ten years, 1922 to 1932, it was used as a hall of residence for women. After three years, it became a freshman women's dorm for forty-seven women. All the women were freshmen except for the junior counselors.

Now forty-two students live in Tank, and an additional forty take meals in the co-op.
This large old house is located on the east side of campus in a residential section of town. The dining room is paneled with wood, and the huge front porch (with swing) and spacious lawn are popular places to relax. Menus at Tank tend to be varied (which is probably a polite way of saying that sometimes it's not edible.) The students that live and board at Tank are part of the 582-member Oberlin Student Co-operative Association (OSCA) which is the largest co-op program of its kind in the country. In addition to Tank, it includes three other housing and dining co-ops (Harkness, Keep, and Old Barrows), and four board-only co-ops (Fairchild, Baldwin, Kosher Co-op, and Third World House). Students involved in a co-op typically work from four to six hours each week, preparing meals, washing dishes, and, in room-and-board co-ops, cleaning hallways and bathrooms.

Charles Martin Hall house

and I also got a photo of Charles Martin Hall's house which I didn't know what it was until I looked at the photo afterwards. We then drove down to Westervelt, and I got out and took some photos.

2004 Westervelt Building