Dascomb Cottage

Date

1887-1907 (private); 1907-1954 (college)

Location

W. College Street between N. Professor and N. Cedar Streets, near present site of Rice Hall parking lot

Architects/Collaborators

Builder unknown

Style

Victorian: Queen Anne

History

Dascomb Cottage, formerly a private residence, was named in honor of Marianne P. Dascomb, the first Principal of what was then the Women’s Department, and her husband, Dr. James Dascomb, the first doctor in Oberlin and one of the signers of the Oberlin Covenant in 1834. It was opened as a dormitory in 1907. In the summer of 1921 Dascomb was connected with Tenney Cottage by a corridor, and the two cottages were operated under one management. Tenney Cottage, formerly the parsonage of the Second Congregational Church, was remodelled in 1913 for use as a dormitory for women. It was named in honor of Mr. Henry M. Tenney, for many years pastor of the Second Church and a Trustee of the College. Between the two houses there were accommodations for fifty women and boarding accommodations for twenty-five others. Dascomb Cottage was demolished in the summer of 1954.

Sources

Oberlin College Archives, Office of the Secretary Records.

Oberlin College Archives, unpublished report on College buildings and projects by Karl Aughenbaugh with photographs by Geoffrey Blodgett, ca. 1953, RG 21 Oberlin File, IV. A. College Miscellany.