Village Housing: 184 Woodland Street

Date

ca. 1890-2016

Location

184 Woodland Street

Architects/Collaborators

Builder unknown

Style

Victorian: Queen Anne

History

The Cowdery family made this house their home for nearly 60 years, beginning in about 1902. City directories list Mrs. Dryer L. Cowdery as well as Kirke L. and Mary T. Cowdery. Kirke and Mary had two sons: Lawrence T. and Karl M. Kirke Cowdery, originally from Wisconsin, was a Professor of French, and later Professor Emeritus, at Oberlin College. Mary, from Mt. Vernon, Ohio, was a tutor, and later Assistant Professor Emeritus, also in French. Kirke was actively involved in the campus and community, taught for thirty-one years, helped to establish Oberlin's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, and served as a foyer for French troops in WWI, and working for the Red Cross in Oberlin during WWII. Mary taught at both the College and its preparatory school for forty-five years. In 1957, Kirke Cowdery died leaving Mary, who also passed away that year. This house was one of many in the College's Village Housing program for students until its demolition in the fall of 2016 to make way for the expansion of Phillips Gymnasium.

Source

Ohio Historic Inventory by Clark, Surovy, Tomazic, and Tuohy, Ohio State Historic Preservation Office August 2, 2004.