07/11/2025
Tappan Square Park in Oberlin, Ohio, is a public park that provides students and residents a place to relax and enjoy nature, as well as a gathering place for college and community events. It also reflects an early conservation effort undertaken by aluminum entrepreneur Charles M. Hall in the early 20th century.
Oberlin’s College campus surrounds the park on the East, North and West side, while downtown Oberlin is to the south. According to legend, in 1833, when a pair presbyterian ministers decided where to bring their religious community, they stopped at the Elm tree once located at the southeast corner of the park and decided to settle there. Their community became both Oberlin College and the City of Oberlin.
The area was cleared following the establishment of the town and the college. It took on the name “Stumpville” because of the remains of trees left by clearcutting. Throughout the 19th century it would become populated by several college buildings, including the College Chapel and Tappan Hall, named after Arthur Tappan, an abolitionist and early College benefactor. Tappan would later give his name to the park.
In 1903, the College Chapel was destroyed by a fire, paving the way for the creation of what would become Tappan Square Park. Charles M. Hall, who had developed a revolutionary technique for producing aluminum as a student at Oberlin, financed a plan to build a public green space in the center of town. A condition in his will said Oberlin College would only receive his benefaction if they undertook his plan. When he died in 1927, all the buildings in the block that had once been “stumpville” were torn down.
📸 Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons and Special Collections, Cleveland State University Library.
Written and compiled by Yasuhiro Shinozaki for Midstory.
