Oberlin is a historic former train station in the city of

Oberlin Oberlin may refer to: ; Places in the United States * Oberlin Township, Decatur County, Kansas ** Oberlin, Kansas, a city in the township * Oberlin, Louisiana, a town * Oberlin, Ohio, a city * Oberlin, Licking County, Ohio, a ghost town * Oberlin, ...

, Ohio, United States. Constructed shortly after the American Civil War, it has become an example of adaptive reuse, and it has been named a historic site. The depot is a simple

weatherboarded Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern America ...

structure with a foundation of sandstone, designed in a mixture of the

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

and Italianate styles of architecture. It exemplifies train stations constructed during the middle of the 19th century: northern Ohio's earliest stations were often built in a form of Gothic Revival, while Italianate styling became much more popular following the conclusion of the Civil War in 1865. Few depots with this mix of styles survive, especially in Lorain County.Owen, Lorrie K., ed. ''Dictionary of Ohio Historic Places''. Vol. 2. St. Clair Shores: Somerset, 1999, 892. Oberlin's first railroad was built by the Toledo, Norwalk, and Cleveland Railroad, which opened its line through the village in late 1852.Wright, G. Frederick, ed. ''A Standard History of Lorain County Ohio''. Chicago and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

: Lewis, 1916, 509. Fifteen years later, the

Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway, established in 1833 and sometimes referred to as the Lake Shore, was a major part of the New York Central Railroad's Water Level Route from Buffalo, New York, to Chicago, Illinois, primarily along the ...

erected the present structure along its east-west line on Oberlin's southern side. From its earliest years, the rail line was a highly significant component of village life:

Oberlin College Oberlin College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college and conservatory of music in Oberlin, Ohio. It is the oldest Mixed-sex education, coeducational liberal arts college in the United S ...

students and other travellers had previously relied on weather-dependent Lake Erie transportation routes, so the all-weather railroad line provided an immense boost to the college and to the community in general. In 1914, the LS&MS became a part of the new New York Central Railroad,Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Station
Ohio Historical Society, 2002. Accessed 2013-09-19. but the new larger railroad only operated the depot for a few decades; by the 1970s, the depot sat silent and unused. Rather than demolishing the depot, locals chose to preserve it: the land surrounding it was converted into a park, and the depot itself was renovated in order to ready it for use as the local Head Start offices. In 1979, the depot was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Oberlin Lake Shore And Michigan Southern Station, qualifying both because of its architecture and its place in local history. Some changes were made when the depot was renovated for Head Start, but it retains its original appearance, aside from the absence of the rails that once sat next to it. As one of the area's least-changed historic railroad stations, it was deemed an important example of railroads' changing architectural styles during the mid-19th century. It is one of twelve National Register-listed locations in and around Oberlin, and one of more than a hundred countywide.

References

External links

Profile from Oberlin College
, services= {{National Register of Historic Places Railway stations in the United States opened in 1867 Buildings and structures in Lorain County, Ohio National Register of Historic Places in Lorain County, Ohio Former railway stations in Ohio Education in Lorain County, Ohio Gothic Revival architecture in Ohio Government buildings in Ohio Italianate architecture in Ohio Railway stations on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio Former New York Central Railroad stations Transportation in Lorain County, Ohio Oberlin, Ohio

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