Nomination for Evans, Wilson Bruce, House

From the form

The catalogue entry the section above was filed under.

Form No. 10-300 REV. (9/77) UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR NATIONAL PARK SERVICE RECEIVED FEB 27 1980 NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES INVENTORY -- NOMINATION FORM SEE INSTRUCTIONS IN HOW TO COMPLETE NATIONAL REGISTER FORMS TYPE ALL ENTRIES -- COMPLETE APPLICABLE SECTIONS Evans, Wilson Bruce, House AND/OR COMMON 2 LOCATION STREET & NUMBER -NOT FOR PUBLICATION CITY, TOWN CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 13 - Donald Pease - VICINITY OF PRESENT USE -PRIVATE STRUCTURE _WORK IN PROGRESS X PRIVATE RESIDENCE PUBLIC ACQUISITION -IN PROCESS -YES: UNRESTRICTED OWNER OF PROPERTY Dorothy Inborden Miller DC 20002 5 LOCATION OF LEGAL DESCRIPTION REGISTRY OF DEEDS,ETC.

REPRESENTATION IN EXISTING SURVEYS DEPOSITORY FOR SURVEY RECORDS 093 039 1976 CODE Lorain Elyria DATE Washington HISTORIC Oberlin COUNTY STATE DISTRICT OBJECT CLASSIFICATION OWNERSHIP GOVERNMENT CATEGORY COMMERCIAL ENTERTAINMENT COURTHOUSE. ACCESSIBLE AGRICULTURE PARK PUBLIC MILITARY MUSEUM NAME Columbus Ohio Ohio Historic Inventory STATUS BEING CONSIDERED OTHER: Ohio Historical Society TITLE _UNOCCUPIED DATE ENTERED _TRANSPORTATION 226 Middle Avenue 33 East Vine Street - EDUCATIONAL RELIGIOUS X_BUILDING(S) - INDUSTRIAL - SCIENTIFIC FOR NPS USE ONLY -SITE - BOTH _FEDERAL XSTATE COUNTY LOCAL Lorain County Administration Building *ORIGINAL SITE EXCELLENT DETERIORATED X ALTERED _MOVED DATE. DESCRIBE THE PRESENT AND ORIGINAL (IF KNOWN) PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Description of the property

idiom. There are three window openings across the facade, with the entrance at one side, and two windows across the side elevations. brick arches, without hood moldings, and plain stone sills. To the added after 1900 by the son of the original owner. On the interior, the wide door and window moldings of simple design were probably made by Evans himself, a cabinet maker. and two bathrooms. CONDITION UNEXPOSED DESCRIPTION UNALTERED FAIR This is a modest square two-story brick house in the Italianate CHECK ONE The entrance has an arched transom light and double doors.There brackets rest on a frieze with panels outlined by raised moldings.

There is a central chimney.The window openings have segmental rear of the house is a one-story kitchen wing of frame construction is a low hipped roof with bracketed eaves.The simple concave-convex which dates from the time of the original owner.Across the The only alterations have been the addition of a hot air furnace X_GOOD -RUINS front is a porch with brick columns and a shed roof which was DATE AREAS OF

Statement of significance

active in the anti-slavery movement in Oberlin, Ohio, a leader in the Oberlin black community, and one of those indicted following the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, "Ohio's most dramatic confrontation between including the Langstons, Learys, Copelands, Walls and Scotts, which before the Civil War. Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of 1858. John Price, a fugitive slave from Columbus by way of Wellington, he was rescued by Oberlin College fugitive slave, including Henry and Wilson Bruce Evans. At the trial, 1500-1599 THEATER ARCHEOLOGY-HISTORIC ENGINEERING SIGNIFICANCE EDUCATION house.

BUILDER/ARCHITECT 1900- PERIOD RELIGION MILITARY ARCHITECTURE AGRICULTURE TRANSPORTATION LITERATURE SCULPTURE INDUSTRY EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENT _POLITICS/GOVERNMENT MUSIC persons were indicted for knowingly and willfully rescuing the 1600-1699 the Evans brothers dismissed their counsel, established no defense, _COMMUNICATIONS _PREHISTORIC Wilson Bruce Evans and his brother Henry Evans participated in the _PHILOSOPHY and after his death, many black Oberlin students roomed in the Evans students and other citizens and sent to Canada for safety.Thirty-seven During the Civil War, Wilson Bruce Evans enlisted in an Ohio Volunteer Regiment, where he was probably accepted as a member of the Caucasian -SCIENCE hended under the Fugitive Slave Law.As he was being transferred to _CONSERVATION race, and served from 1864 until the end of the war.During his lifetime those on opposite sides of the Fugitive Slave Law.

_1700-1799 made up the leadership of Oberlin's black community before the Civil 1400-1499 Kentucky, had lived in Oberlin from 1856 to 1858, when he was appre- and refused bail.Evans spent 84 days in the Cleveland jail. _ECONOMICS _COMMERCE Wilson Bruce Evans (1824-1898)was a North Carolina cabinet maker who War.Evans bought the land in 1854 and built this house in 1855-1856. came to Oberlinin the early 1850s.His was one of several families, -LAW _COMMUNITY PLANNING This house was the home of Wilson Bruce Evans, a free black who was The house is one of several which have survived from the period ARCHEOLOGY-PREHISTORIC - INVENTION

The rest of the file

Bibliography, boundary description, and the people who prepared and reviewed the nomination.

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES Robert Ewell Greene, The Leary-Evans, Ohio's Free People of Color Letter, Mrs. Dorothy Inborden Miller, granddaughter of W. B. Evans, Sept. 21, 1979 (WRHS). 10 GEOGRAPHICAL DATA ACREAGE OF NOMINATED PROPERTY QUADRANGLE NAME - VERBAL BOUNDARY DESCRIPTION Street, Oberlin, Lorain County, Ohio.

STATE - 11 FORM PREPARED BY NAME/ TITLE STREET & NUMBER CITY OR TOWN 12 STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER CERTIFICATION THE EVALUATED SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS PROPERTY WITHIN THE STATE IS: LOCAL L NATIONAL - As the designated State Historic Preservation Officer for the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (Public Law 89-665),I hereby nominate this property for inclusion in the National Register and certify that it has been evaluated according to the criteria and procedures set forth by the National Park Service STATE HISTORIC PRESERVATION OFFICER SIGNATURE FOR NPS USE ONLY I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS PROPERTY IS INCLUDED IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER KEEPER OF THE HATIONAL REGISTER CHIEF-OP-REGISTRATION GPO 921-803 216-721-5722 Oberlin ORGANIZATION DATE CODE Cleveland COUNTY NORTHING TELEPHONE EASTING Ohio UTM REFERENCES Western Reserve Historical Society less than one 10825 East Boulevard The property consists of the house and lot located at 33 East Vine October 1979 ACREAGE TOT VERIFIED 14.517,112.9.01 Geoffrey Blodgett, "Evans House," Oberlin News-Tribune, May 8, 1975.

LIST ALL STATES AND COUNTIES FOR PROPERTIES OVERLAPPING STATE OR COUNTY BOUNDARIES DATE 2/18/80 ZONE UTM NOT VERIFIED 2-27-80 600 Photos - Inventory - REVIEW UNIT CHIEF Send-back - Re-submit - OTHER CONTROL KEEPER HAER Maps Review HISTORIAN National Register Write-up Federal Register Entry Working Number United States Department of the Interior-Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service BRANCH CHIEF 4.15.80 Entered TECHNICAL State 2.3.81 Oberlin, Lorain County, Ohio 1979 Lorain County Reg. Plan- APR 1 6 1980 FEB 2 7 1980 ning Commission Evans, Wilson Bruce, House Facade, looking South. Oberlin, Lorain County 2. East elevation and north 1979 Ohio Michael William Kelly 2 7 1980 PhotoGraphics of Oberlin Oberlin, Lorain County, Ohio 1979 3.

Front Hall, looking Evans, Wilson Bruce, House PhotoGraphics of Oberlin Michael William Kelly toward entry Oberlin, Lorain County Ohio FEB _ 7 1980 1979 PhotoGraphics of Oberlin Michael William Kelly west side of house. 4. Dining room House Ohio Evans, Wilson Bruce FEB 2 7 1980 5. Rear sitting room, 1979 east side of house. Michael William Kelly PhotoGraphics of Oberlin Oberlin, Lorain County, Ohio APR 1 6 1980 Evans, Wilson Bruce, House Oberlin, Lorain County, Ohio 1. North facade, looking SE. FEB 2 7 1980 Michael William Kelly 1979 Photo Graphics of Oberlin OHIO-LORAIN CO 17 398/140 East FEB 2 7 1980 House DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 4571/290 North NATIONAL RECEIVED OBERLIN, OHIO OBERLIN QUADRANGLE STATE OF OHIO Evans, Wilson Bruce, Washington, D.C. 20002 Evans, Wilson Bruce, House Oberlin, OH 3964681 Dorothy Inborden Miller 600 21st Street NE .F.C MATIUNAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES .

ERIAL - C.LL (ATTAG._O)) INITIALS INDIVIDUAL RESPONSE (ATTACHED) DATE ACIN TAKEN DATE REC'D MAR 2 0 I9 Hamilton County Odd Fellow's Home for Orphans, Indigent and Evans, Wilson Bruce, House Wise, Peter, House Old Euclid District 4 Schoolhouse Cuyahoga County Honorable Howard M. Metzenbaum Honorable John H. Glenn Columbus, Ohio 43211 Honorable Charles A. Van1k Aged Location Woodsfield STATE Springfield Berlin vicinity Lyndhurst Name Holmes County Cincinnati Also Notified Hollister-Parry House Monroe County Date Entered Oberlin Lorain County Honorable Douglas Applegate Honorable Donald J. Pease Clark County The Ohio Historical Society Mr. David Brook Honorable Clarence J. Brown Honorable John M. Ashbrook ENTRIES IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER State Historic Preservation Officer Hemann, Joseph A., House Interstate 7l at 17th Avenue Honorable Willis D. Gradison Ms. Sarah G.

01dham Recreation Service Department of The Interior I had the distinct pleasure of traveling to Oberlin Ohio last Setember. One of my reasons for visiting was to see the Wilson Bruce Evans House on 33 East Vine Street in 'Downtown' Oberlin. The owner, Mrs. Dorothy Imborden Miller and a descendant of Mr. Evans, invited me stay for several As a distant relative (my Great, Great Grandfather-Henry Evans, was family settled. after leaving pre-Civil War, North Carolina. and before finally locating in Washington, D.C. nothing else, the perfect sets of arched double doors leading to the study preservation groups, can safety say, that these appointments among others Wilson Bruce Evans not only built this house, but he was active in the cause home to many traveling in Ohio and studying at Oberlin, who later Mrs. Dorothy I. Miller has sent to your office.

As a citizen, relative, and concerned professional, I strongly urge that THURLOW EVANS TIBBS, JR. Community Planner Services Sincerely, National your office include this home on the National Register of Historic places. General in your possession. However you must visit the home and experience if to the National Architectural/Design Heritage of the United States. Heritaqe Conservation and surrounding Wilson Bruce Evans and his home are documented in the literature Capital Wilson Bruce Evans',Brother),I thourghly enjoyed seeing the place where my To whom this may come present: Washinaton, D.C.

20243 Documentation of Wilson Bruce Evans, his family and the home in Oberlin are in the house, are unique architectural elements significantly contributing at Dartmouth College, and a local activist involved with neighborhood in this house.As an architectural historian who studied under John Jacobus of citizen rights.His participation in the Oberlin-Wellington Slave rescue is but one of these involvements.Mr.Evans frequenly opened his Evans, Wilson Bruce, House STATUS 1. MISSING - 2. REMOVED/ . 6. OVER- 7. NPS - 8. DOE - 9.

RESTRICTED Available on: Microfiche ( ): Optical Disk () (Where found, or source of replacement) JAN DEMOLISHED EXPLANATION (County) (State) COMMENTS Lorain UNDOCUMENTED Locator Card 80003143 (Cause for removal) National Register of Historic Places OWNER OBJECTION SIZED (Completed by) Resource Name; (Current source of partial documentation) (Date Found/Replaced) (Date Designated) (Location of oversize file) (Target Date) (Date form completed) WASO 21 NATIONAI PARK SERVICE (Reference Number[sl) (NHL Name, if different than NRHP Name) (Date Removed) (If multi-state/county MRA, state/county where filed and location) or MRA Name) DHIO 3. NHLX ._ 4.TR_ _5. MRA Missing Status:Entire Folder();Nomination WACL