Village Housing: 200 W. College Street

Date

ca. 1880-2009 (private); 2009-2020 (college)

Location

Corner of N. Cedar and W. College Streets

Architects/Collaborators

Builder unknown

Style

Vernacular

History

This modest house has a long history of ownership by private individuals and families before the College acquired it in 2009 for its Village Housing program for students. It was demolished in 2020. It was known for many years as the Drummond House, for one of its owners, Mrs. Fannie Drummond, a widow. Mrs. Drummond and Miss Susan Hinman moved into 200 West College by 1933. Mrs. Drummond was widowed when her husband passed away at the age of 55 in 1914. Mr. Drummond's death received considerable attention because of Mrs. Drummond's decision to sue the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Company $20,000 for his death. She alleged the railroad did not stop the train in Oberlin when her husband was sick, but instead made him exit the train 600 feet from the station on a block of cinders, exacerbating his illness. Ultimately, Mrs. Drummond appears to have lowered her claim to $10,000 dollars, but this smaller amount did not satisfy the jury which found for the railroad. Despite this, Mrs. Drummond was granted an appeal because the jury was not issued proper instructions by the judge in the original case and the appeals court reversed the decision.

Mrs. Drummond was also a strong supporter of the temperance movement and was a national lecturer and organizer for the Women's Christian Temperance Union (W.C.T.U., founded in Cleveland, 1874). She went to Asia to serve as a missionary around 1910. Miss Hinman began her career as an educator working in the South. She then graduated from Oberlin College in 1893 before returning south. Like Mrs. Drummund, Miss Hinman was a missionary, taking several well-documented trips to Asia. In 1895, she wrote a letter to the Oberlin News entitled 'Life Among the Chinese' and talked about meeting the Emperor of China, as well as the different types of technology found in China. In 1896, she wrote another letter detailing the thanksgiving festivities held in Peking. She later returned to Oberlin to become a school teacher. Between 1899 and 1904 she taught in North Carolina, Nebraska and North Dakota. In 1907 she helped organize a drive to send bouquets of flowers to Cleveland 'for the unfortunate ones in the big city.' She, like Mrs. Drummond, became very involved in the temperance movement, attending the national convention of the W.C.T.U. Miss Hinman moved out of the home between 1937 and 1939 and moved to 10 South Prospect. Mrs. Drummond appears to have moved out of the home around 1942.

Source

Ohio Historic Inventory by Liz Schultz, Ohio State Historic Preservation Office, November 20, 2009. Accessed from the Oberlin Heritage Center website, June 25, 2015.