OBERLIN, a village of Lorain county, Ohio, U.S.A., 34 m. W.S.W. of Cleveland, on Federal highway 20, and served by the New York Central lines and electric railways. Pop. (193o) It is a pleasant residential village, the seat of Oberlin college and other educational institutions. Since 1926 it has had a manager form of government. Oberlin college was founded in 1833 by the Rev. John J. Shipherd (1802-44) and Philo P. Stewart (1798-1868), and was named after Jean Frederic Oberlin (d. 1826), the Alsatian pastor and philanthropist. Its educational plant is valued (1928) at about $4,700,000; its endowment funds aggregate $16,000,000, the library has about 300,00o bound volumes; and the student body numbers 1,800. Oberlin college includes the Graduate School of Theology, and the Conservatory of Music.
The "Oberlin Theology" (not now identified with the college) centred in the teachings of President Finney, a powerful preacher and teacher, who carried on remarkable revival services in eastern cities of America and in England and Scotland. The modern theological position of the college is reflected in the writings of Emeritus President King and of the late Dean Edward I. Bos
worth of the theological seminary (1861-1927). Oberlin was the first American college to adopt co-education, and in Aug. 1841, three women were regularly graduated from the classical course —the first women in America to receive the degree of bachelor of arts on conditions like those prevailing in the best men's colleges of the time. Oberlin was also a pioneer (1835) in refusing to debar students on account of race. A substantial proportion of the students earn part of their expenses.
Oberlin was a "station" on the Underground Railroad. The attic of President Finney's home frequently sheltered slaves who were escaping to Canada. In 1858 a runaway slave, Littlejohn, was captured in Oberlin by a U.S. marshal, and was rescued at Wellington (io m. S.) by a band of Oberlin professors and others, in consequence of which 3o professors were arrested and imprisoned. This was a famous fugitive slave case. The village was founded as a home for the college, and was incorporated in 1846. The Anti-Saloon League was here started in 1893.