To the hairy-handed frontier town of Elyria, Ohio came the Rev. John Jay Shipherd to join battle with the Devil. The struggle lasted three years and was foredoomed; faster than Congregationalist Shipherd could preach the old time religion, Elyria's storekeepers passed out free whisky to boost trade. The Rev. Mr. Shipherd abandoned the town to its wickedness and with one disciple, the Rev. Philo Penfield Stewart, set out into north Ohio's dense elm forest. On swampy ground, a safe nine miles away, he founded Oberlin College in 1833.
The college survived the swamp; and...
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