OBERLIN, Ohio — Wilson Bruce Evans was a man who helped define an era and an area. Born a free African American in North Carolina, Evans settled in Oberlin, Ohio, seeking more freedoms and equality. He wanted to build a new home.
He started by building a house. And over 170 years later, it still stands today.
“This is the home of a hero,” Carol Lasser says. “Someone who inspires us to be our better selves.”
Carol is the executive director of the Wilson Bruce Evans Home Historical Society, a group working to restore the house and reopen it to the public as a historic site and educational center.
Evans was instrumental in Ohio’s underground railroad effort. The people who lived in the house handed down a pursuit of racial justice like they handed down the house itself. As it grew stronger, so, too, did the movement in Oberlin. Historical Society Trustee Nancy Wall tells News 5, “That’s the core of this house: Strength. Strength through adversity.”
Phyllis Yarber, vice-president of the Society, wants to make sure young people today know what happened in this house, in their city and in their community.
“We died,” she said. “We fought in the Civil War. And we helped move people to freedom.”
The house itself has seen better days. There’s a plaque outside that highlights its past. The Wilson Bruce Evans Home Historical Society concerns itself with the house’s future. The goal is to have renovations completed by Black History Month in 2027. Grants and donations are helping make sure the funds keep coming in.
If you’d like to help, visit www.evanshhs.org
