Oberlin College Rocks! – Part 1

Directly across the street from Bibbins Hall, Oberlin Conservatory's main classroom building, is a large boulder on Tappan Square. Apparently it's a longstanding tradition for it to be repainted regularly by the students, who decorate it with various designs and color schemes to convey a message or just have fun. 

Just a short stroll to the east in the same area is another huge boulder facing the storefronts along W. College Street.

I've passed these boulders regularly during my commute for the past two years, and have often wondered. How long have they been there? What did they originally commemorate before becoming a creative canvas on which the students can express themselves?

Fortunately, author and regular blog contributor Don Hilton did my research for me. In an email, he pointed out that the Oberlin Heritage Center website provided some history for each boulder. 

"The two largest boulders were placed on the square in 1897 and 1933," it notes. 

"The Oberlin College Class of 1898 removed one boulder from Plum Creek and put it on the square in 1897. The plaque reads “Glacial boulder of granitoid gneiss from eastern Canada, excavated from 10 feet below the surface of the northwest corner of Professor and Morgan streets and placed here by the class of ’98 during the night of Dec. 3 1897.”  

That's the boulder across from the Conservatory that it's talking about, the one that's painted like the Palestine flag (red, green, white and black) in my photo. Here is a photo (courtesy of Col. Matt Nahorn) of the boulder being excavated from Plum Creek by the Class of 1898.

But what about the boulder in front of the 'Oberlin' carving?

The Oberlin Heritage Center website notes, "The other, known as the Founders Boulder, was taken from Erie County and reads “In Memory of John J. Shipherd, Philo P. Stewart, Dedicated June 17, 1933.” 

The Founders Boulder was dedicated during the festivities surrounding the city of Oberlin's centennial celebration. Oberlin was founded in 1833 by two Presbyterian ministers, John J. Shipherd and Philo P. Stewart.

Here's a Cleveland News photo currently on eBay of the rock being prepped for the big event. 

The caption reads, "George W. Ernst, a workman preparing the "Founders Tablet" to be dedicated Saturday."

The Oberlin Heritage Center website also notes, "Plaques on the boulders have been covered by hundreds of layers of paint and are barely legible. The rocks became public billboards in the 1960s and soon even college officials joined in the tradition of painting the rocks. Today, anyone can paint them on a first-come, first-served basis. 

"Visit oberlinrocks.com to see more images of the painted rocks."

The plaques on both boulders are pretty much illegible these days.

There are a few vintage photos on the internet showing the 1897 rock in the 1960s. 

This photo from 1967 apparently pokes fun of the campus inventory system.

And this photo from the fall of 1968 celebrates the World Series victory of the Detroit Tigers over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Here are a few more recent shots.

Thanks to Don Hilton for his suggestion of the Oberlin College boulders as a blog topic. By the way, Don has been busy adding additional tomes to his body of work. Visit his website to find out more about his two newest books.