A National Historic Landmark. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. 7 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1901.
From the record
“Wilson Bruce Evans House is a historic house at 33 East Vine Street in Oberlin, Ohio, United States. Completed in 1856, it served a major stop on the Underground Railroad, with its builders, Wilson Bruce Evans and Henry Evans, participating the 1858 Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, a celebrated rescue of a slave.”
Wikipedia article Wilson Bruce Evans House, CC BY-SA 4.0.
One of 121 National Register listings published here for Lorain County · listed in 1980 · category: Building · a National Historic Landmark.
National Register reference number.80003143- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Then and now
1901 to 1956
The ground this property stands on, surveyed
55 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are
United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.
19011956
The ground it stands on
77,639 words
The chapter on Oberlin City in History of Lorain County, Ohio, published 1879 names Oberlin. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
The following sketch of Oberlin history is mainly a compilation, but it may be regarded as reliable, anil is as complete as the scope of this work ^vill admit. The facts and documents pertaining to the early history, I have taken chiefly from the " History of Oberlin," in manuscript, by President Fairchild ; of which, availing myself of the generous offer of the author, I have made free use. Other facts and statistics have been taken from the college catalogues, from articles in the Oberlin Evcmtjelisi and in the Oberlin Revieir, and from other sources, for my indebtedness to which, this general acknowledgment must suffice. For the estimates of Oberlin, and of a few of its leading men, the writer is alone responsible. H. M.
The history of Oberlin m;iy be said to be the history of an idea, first, as conceived in the minds of individuals and matured into a plan, which may be called its origin; then as converted by them into fact, and made an outward reality, which constitutes its begitining; next, as receiving a sudden increase of mental and moral force, which gave it enlargement, and was its second beginning, from which it should proceed as from a new point of departure; and finally, as its natural and gradual development, in which is found, amid strivings and conflicts, its growth to maturity. In this fact, that Oberlin is built on and represents a progressive idea, or a fundamental principle, is found its distinctive and representative character; and this is the true explanation of the enthusiasm it awakened, the oi)position it excited, the success it has achieved, and the work it has wrought.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 1,795 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Wilson Bruce Evans House between 1852 and 1975: 922 Animalia, 612 Fungi, 225 Plantae, 15 Protozoa, 13 Chromista, 8 Unrecorded.
12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A. E. Recksecker, A. E. Ricksecker, A. M. Evans and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Oberlin, the town this property stands in, in 28 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 17 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 4 flash flood.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
Flash flooding reported in Oberlin and Pittsfield Township due to heavy rainfall. Several reports of flooded basements. OH-303 closed between Pitts Road and Quarry Road due to flash flooding. Radar estimated 2.5 to 3.5 inches of rainfall in a three hour period.
Thunderstorm winds downed many trees and large limbs across the county. The Oberlin, Kipton and Elyria areas were especially hard hit. A barn was blown down in Eaton Township. A car was crushed by a tree in Elyria. A peak wind gust of 54 mph was measured at the Lorain County Airport near Elyria.
Six to eight inches of flowing water was reported across US-20 near the OH-511 interchange east of Oberlin. Radar estimated around 2 inches of rainfall in one hour at this location.
Strong thunderstorms with rain, wind, and hail moved over portions of Lorain County. Rainfall rates approaching two inches per hour were reported with this storm. Flooding occurred in Oberlin with several roads impassable with water up to the hoods on cars.
Heavy thunderstorm rains caused widespread street flooding in Oberlin. Water on some roads was over two feet in depth forcing several motorists to abandon their vehicles.
United States Geological Survey topographic
sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the coordinate the National Park Service records for this property, then
testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
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.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 80003143, 19 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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