Why are there painted boulders on Tappan Square?
The two largest boulders were placed on the square in 1897 and 1933. The Oberlin College Class of 1898 removed one boulder from Plumb Creek and put it on the square in 1897. The plaque reads “Glacial boulder of granitoid gneiss from eastern Canada, excavated from 10 feet below the surface of the northwest corner of Professor and Morgan streets and placed here by the class of ’98 during the night of Dec. 3 1897.” The other, known as the Founders Boulder, was taken from Erie County and reads “In Memory of John J. Shipherd, Philo P. Stewart, Dedicated June 17, 1933.” Plaques on the boulders have been covered by hundreds of layers of paint and are barely legible. The rocks became public billboards in the 1960s and soon even college officials joined in the tradition of painting the rocks. Today, anyone can paint them on a first-come, first-served basis. Visit oberlinrocks.com to see more images of the painted rocks.
