A county institution sentimentally close to Oberlin and physically close as well is the Lorain County Children’s Home. It is an interesting fact in the career of Judge John W. Steele, Oberlin’s outstanding citizen in postwar days, that when the home was first proposed he doubted the wisdom of building it, contending that too much artificial oversight of children was not for their good nor for the public good. He advocated for a time the placing of dependent children in private homes. This of course is now done and has been done for years by the Lorain Country Children’s Home. But this placing takes place from the home and under the direction of the trustees. Its discussion had not progressed far when Judge Steele, always big enough to admit an error in judgment, changed his opinion and worked enthusiastically for the construction of this new country service. The home, which is located near the home at that time of Judge Steele, was visited almost daily by Steele while it was in the course of building. His interest in the building and the site and in the proposed work was so generally recognized that on petition of Oberlin citizens Colonel Steele was named by the Board of County Commissioners as one of the first trustees of the institution. The work of building the home was done in the fall and winter of 1898.

For a number of years the superintendent and matron of the home were Mr. and Mrs. George A. Mosher. Oberlin people who have served on the board of trustees of the Home include the late H. E. Arnold and Morton A. Houghto. The home is at present well conducted by Superintendent and Mrs. J. G. Holland.

Friday, March 29, 1935
The Oberlin News-Tribune, Oberlin, Ohio