The Town that Sandstone Built

Last week I wrote about a walk which I took in the Mill Stream Run Reservation of the Cleveland Metroparks  I mentioned Baldwin and Wallace Lakes which were originally stone quarries, part of the thriving industry that made the Ohio town of Berea the "Sandstone Capital of the World". 

Berea is a suburb to the southwest of Cleveland, and is adjacent to the suburb where I live.  It stands upon a deposit of some of the finest quality sandstone in the world, and in the late 1800s stone from the quarries was used for making grindstones and building materials.  Buildings throughout the world were built with Berea sandstone.  (Although I have never been able to verify it, I have heard that there is even a portion of the Kremlin in Moscow that was built with our sandstone.)

Last Sunday, eager to relieve the "cabin fever" I was feeling from isolating myself at home, I took a walk through the historic center of Berea and photographed some of its sandstone heritage.

Just to the south of downtown Berea is Coe Lake, which was once the largest stone quarry in the town.  It is today a pleasant city park.  Notice the blocks of sandstone decorating the shore of the lake.

The sandstone was not generally used for building private residences, but there is one house in Berea which was built entirely from our local stone.  It dates back to 1854, and today it is the headquarters and museum of the Berea Historical Society.

A new edifice for St. Thomas Episcopal Church was built of sandstone in 1893 when a local resident who had made a small fortune selling horses to the Union Army during the Civil War bequeathed $5000 to the church.  The church has expanded since then, but the old stone structure still used for parish activities.

At the heart of Berea is Baldwin Wallace College. (Since 2012 with the addition of graduate courses, it is officially called Baldwin Wallace University.)  The institution was founded in 1845 by John Baldwin, who was also the founder of Berea and the man who began the sandstone industry.  

(image taken from the web)

John Baldwin

His school was one of the first colleges in the country to accept students regardless of race, gender or religion  (Baldwin had not forgotten that his own mother had been denied admittance to a university because she was female.) The large number of German immigrants coming to Berea led to the establishment of German Wallace College in 1855.  Immigrants could attend classes there to learn English.  (My great grandmother from Switzerland as a young girl attended those classes.)  The two institutions were closely linked, and students at one school could attend classes at the other.  In the early 20th century, as the sandstone quarries began to go into decline, the schools were facing financial problems.  In 1917 the two colleges merged to form Baldwin Wallace College.

Baldwin Wallace is my alma mater, so it was interesting for me to wander around the campus and see the changes since I was a student there.  The campus was eerily quiet since classes have been suspended during the pandemic, and most of the students have left the residence halls.  (I saw one student, probably heading home, packing clothes into his car.)

It is not surprising that all of the older buildings at Baldwin Wallace are built of Berea sandstone.  Marting Hall, built in 1896, still houses the history and English departments.  I had many classes there since I had a history minor.

Next to Marting Hall is the college chapel.  Built in 1870, it was originally a Methodist church until it was given to the college in the 1950s.  (Baldwin Wallace was originally affiliated with the Methodist Church, but the formal affiliation ended in 2019.)

Dietsch Hall was originally built in 1899 as a women's dormitory.  If I remember correctly from my college days, it was used for administrative offices at that time.  Now it houses the foreign language department.

Kulas Hall, built in 1913, is the home of the Conservatory of Music, nationally recognized for its excellence, and famous for its annual Bach Festival, the oldest collegiate Bach festival in the country.  (Sadly, due to the pandemic, the April event will most likely be cancelled this year.)

Heading to the northern side of the campus, Carnegie Hall, built in 1882 with a grant from Andrew Carnegie, housed the education department when I was a student there.

Next to it is this building which from 1894 until 1958 served as the college library.  It is dedicated to Philura Gould Baldwin, the granddaughter of John Baldwin.  Philura was a graduate of the school and an avid collector of books.  When she died at the age of 26 of consumption, the Baldwin family donated the funds for this building with the stipulation that one white rose be presented each year in memory of Philura.  That "White Rose Ceremony" is still held today. 

(image taken from the web)

Philura Gould Baldwin

Now, the former Baldwin Library and Carnegie Hall are connected by a modern structure and they house the social science departments.

Wheeler Hall, built in 1891, holds many fond memories for me, since it used to be the location of the foreign language departments.  Now it houses the education department.

From the Baldwin Wallace campus I continued to the north side of town, to photograph one more important sandstone building, the former Berea Depot.  Today it is a restaurant and bar.  

Between 1876 and 1958 this structure was Berea's passenger and freight station.  Tons of sandstone were shipped from here daily.  It is an example of Victorian Gothic architecture, and when it was opened, one of the Cleveland newspapers called it "the finest facility outside the big cities."

That concludes our tour of the sandstone buildings of historic Berea.