Wilberforce Ohio Art Prints

The history of Wilberforce is inseparable from the larger American story of freedom, education, and perseverance.  In the early 1800s, the land around the natural springs east of Xenia was known for its beauty, farmland, and mineral-rich water.  In 1850, Elias Drake purchased the property and developed Tawawa, also known as Xenia Springs, as a health resort.  The resort drew visitors from the South, including slaveholders who brought enslaved people with them, creating deep tension in a region with strong antislavery sentiment.

In 1855, negotiations began for the sale of Tawawa Springs to establish a university for African Americans, and Wilberforce University was founded there in 1856. The university was named for British abolitionist William Wilberforce and became the nation’s first private historically Black college or university. Greene County’s African American communities, the Underground Railroad activity in the area, the existing resort buildings, and the natural setting all helped shape the site’s selection.

Central State University later grew from Wilberforce University’s educational legacy, beginning as the Combined Normal and Industrial Department in 1887 before becoming its own institution. Together with Charles Young Buffalo Soldiers National Monument and the National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center, Wilberforce stands as one of Ohio’s most meaningful small communities... a place where education, military service, cultural memory, and rural Greene County quiet all meet.