Co-education Centennial Memorial Gateway

Date

1937-present

Location

North Main Street in front of the Allen Art Building's Venturi Wing

Architects/Collaborators

Richard Arthur Kimball (1899-1997), New York City (architect)
Clarence Ward (1884-1973), Oberlin (Allen Memorial Art Museum Director and consultant)

Style

Modernistic

History

The Co-education Centennial Memorial Gateway was erected in 1937 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Oberlin College's breaking of the gender barrier in higher education and its subsequent impact on the emancipation of women. On September 6, 1837, Mary Hosford, Mary Fletcher Kellogg, Elizabeth Smith Prall, and Caroline Mary Rudd, whose names are inscribed on the monument, were admitted to Oberlin and became the first women ever to matriculate at a college on an equal basis with men. The monument was a gift of R.T. Miller, Jr., of the Class of 1891. The designer, architect Richard A. Kimball, also designed Hales Memorial Gymnasium completed in 1939.

Source

Oberlin College Archives, College General Records, Series 3, Monuments and Memorials.