Oberlin Memorial Arch – Then & Now

Sometimes after work, I loiter in Oberlin a bit before heading home – perhaps to stop at the bakery or just sit on a bench and enjoy the ambience of the college. It's a beautiful campus and there are plenty of photo opportunities.

I've admired the Oberlin Memorial Arch on Tappan Square for many years (shown above on the vintage postcard) but didn't know what it was commemorating. According to the Oberlin College Archives website, "The Memorial Arch was erected as a memorial to the missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions who lost their lives in the Boxer uprising in China in 1900. The cornerstone of the Arch was laid October 16, 1902, and it was dedicated May 14, 1903. The construction is of Indiana limestone. Two handsome bronze tablets perpetuate the names of the thirteen missionaries and of their five children who were massacred by the Boxers. 

"Oberlin was chosen as the proper place for this monument because all but four of those who suffered martyrdom were Oberlin students or members of the families of these students. The Memorial Arch is located on the west side of Tappan Square."

The Arch has been the subject of many postcards over the years, and thus provided me a good opportunity to create some Then & Now treatments. 

The Arch is beautiful from any angle. But it looks a little stark these days.

Like the Knights Who Say Ni, it is in need of shrubbery.