Built 1856 Designated NHL December 9, 1997 Architectural style Italianate architecture | NRHP Reference # 80003143 Opened 1856 Added to NRHP 16 April 1980 | |
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Location 33 E. Vine St., Oberlin, Ohio Similar Gerrit Smith Estate, John Freeman Walls Hist, Town Clock Church, Allen Chapel African M, F Julius LeMoyne House | ||
Wilson Bruce Evans House, also known as LOR-239-21, is a house in Oberlin, Ohio and was a major stop on the Underground Railroad. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1997.
History
The Evans house was the home of Wilson Bruce Evans, a prominent African-American abolitionist and early benefactor of Oberlin College, the first college to admit students of color. Evans rose to national attention after his importance in the 1858 Oberlin-Wellington Rescue, one of the events that challenged the controversial Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Although Evans was not an outspoken abolitionist like his colleagues Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass, Evans was cited as a man who "put justice above his own safety." The house was a frequent stop for travelers on the Underground Railroad such as Harriet Tubman.