Separated since birth, Otterbein bookstore joins the family (a history that starts in Uptown Westerville circa 1870).

The bookstore at Otterbein University wasn’t always as convenient as being located a floor below the dining hall on campus. And neither the bookstore nor any food service was originally a University enterprise. Students made the trek via the notoriously muddy unpaved streets to the Uptown State Street commercial district for meals and whatever might be needed for their academic pursuits. Not until 1964 did Otterbein own and operate its own bookstore. Prior to that, the sale of textbooks was in the hands of local merchants. Historical material in the archives at Otterbein University and at the Westerville Public Library’s History Center & Museum reveal a timeline as outlined below.

Identifying the businesses that operated in the Uptown starting with Otterbein’s founding in 1847 is dependent upon locating old pictures, advertisements in newspapers and yearbooks, and published histories…the latter of which contain recollections of contributors that are not always accurate. Fortunately, there is enough reliable information to conclude that a bookstore operation for the sale of textbooks to students began sometime after 1869 and by 1876.

• Regarding the year 1876: Otterbein’s first campus newspaper, The Otterbein Dial, began in 1876 and was published monthly. Both faculty and students contributed to it, but the effort proved to be too much to handle and it ceased publication after just one year. Fortunately, all 10 issues still exist…and in them is an advertisement catering to Otterbein students by James Mossman’s  “Book Store.” The store also carried picture frames and books according to a history of Westerville compiled by Otterbein history professor Dr. Harold Hancock.

• Regarding the year 1869: The Westerville History Center & Museum has just a few newspapers published prior to 1876. A February 12, 1869 issue of the Westerville Banner has advertisements by three different businesses carrying (besides books for church and school) such items as coal oil, groceries, paints, varnishes, feed, fancy notions…and “pure liquors for medical purposes” (LOL on that one considering Westerville was home base for the Anti-Saloon League which authored the Prohibition Amendment). None of these is obviously a store primarily dedicated to the sale of books. Thus it appears James Mossman, with his dedicated space, is the Founder of a university bookstore business that continues to this day.

Mossman’s store was located in a two-story frame house constructed in 1839 of hewn logs by James Westervelt. It was located at the southwest corner of North State and West Main Streets. Westervelt sold the property which then became a hotel. Ownership changed hands several times before purchase by Mossman who added the bookstore to the hotel which was called Commercial House. Mossman today would be considered an entrepreneur. He was a farmer, cattle dealer, hotel operator, and in the real estate business in addition to other pursuits. Per an 1872 town map, he owned a large tract of undeveloped land on the east side of North State Street, north of East Lincoln Street, and running east to likely a bit beyond Vine Street. His plan was to build houses and indeed he did. The 1910 U.S. Census shows his residence as “State Street”, but by 1913 the town directory listed his address as 50 East Broadway Avenue. That was the first house built in the development according to current owners Dr. and Mrs. Thomas James. Dr. James is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Otterbein. James Mossman is buried at Otterbein Cemetery.

After a four-year absence, a campus newspaper renamed The Otterbein Record resumed publication. Sometime between 1876 and the May 1883 edition of the newspaper, the bookstore ownership changed to I. Brown per an advertisement in it. Information about I. Brown remains to be discovered.

An advertisement in the April 1884 edition of the newspaper shows ownership changing to Henry Bushnell, “Successor to I. Brown.” Bushnell was a retired minister originally from Granville, Ohio, who is credited with writing the very first history of that town. In 1868-69, he served as president of Albany College (now Lewis and Clark) in Portland, Oregon. Perhaps that environment led to his owning a store whose primary customers were college students. When Vine Street School (now Emerson School) opened in 1896, Governor Asa Bushnell participated in the program and the town made great celebration of that. I was familiar with Asa Bushnell as his magnificent mansion is in my hometown of Springfield, Ohio, where it has been repurposed as a funeral home. I wondered if the two Bushnells were related. Ancestry.com confirmed that…the families date back to several Connecticut towns all within a short distance of each other despite, surprisingly, Bushnell being a very common name in that state. It is likely the Governor was recruited by his 3^rd cousin Henry. Their great grandfathers were brothers. The commute would have been easy as the interurban line between Columbus and Westerville began two years prior. At the time of his death in 1905, Henry was serving as pastor of the First United Brethren Church (now Church of the Master, United Methodist). He resided on West Park Street with his sister, Julia Bushnell Johnson, who at some point moved to Seattle, Washington, where she is buried. Due to the fact house numbers were not assigned until 1912 and Julia had moved prior to the first town directory published with address numbers, the specific house could not be identified. Reverend Henry Bushnell is buried at Maple Grove Cemetery in Granville, Ohio.

Next in line for bookstore ownership was W. A. (William Alvin) Doherty who, according to Dr. Hancock, was a former Otterbein student. The date ownership changed hands from Bushnell to Doherty is not known. An advertisement in the student publication Otterbein Aegis of June 1892 lists an address of “Opposite Holmes House.” In 1889, Commercial House was razed and in its place rose the Hotel Holmes (aka “Holmes House”) which still stands today and houses Expresso Air Coffee Terminal, Uptown Pharmacy, Abbey Rose, and businesses on the upper floors. Thus, “Opposite Holmes House” meant Doherty moved the business to 24-26 North State Street, the Weyant Block, occupying the south side of what is today a single storefront housing Old Bag of Nails Pub. Doherty departed the business at the end of the summer of 1892. Age 26 at that time, he moved from the family home just west of Westerville in Sharon Township to what was then rural Mifflin Township where he became a farmer. He had a fairly substantial home on Cleveland Avenue a few blocks south of Morse Road. It was razed just a few years ago per the Franklin County Auditor website. He is buried in an unmarked grave in the same vicinity as his house at Riverside Cemetery on Sunbury Road a bit south of Easton Mall.

Per the Otterbein Aegis of September 1892, the 1892-93 academic year began with a new owner at the helm of the University Book Store. J. L. (John) Morrison, at the near retirement age of 60, began a twenty year career catering to the needs of Otterbein students. John retired in 1912 and changed focus in his final four years to authoring a book of poetry published as Heart Poems. There were numerous glowing remarks at his passing including “Mr. Morrison was for twenty years the proprietor of a bookstore in Westerville where with his wonderful personality and lovable disposition he won the hearts of hundreds of Westerville people and Otterbein students.” Son-in-law John Wesley Jones, who assumed management at John’s retirement, moved the University Book Store in 1917 three doors south to 18 North State Street. This structure (today Pure Roots) had previously housed the Bank of Westerville which moved across the street. John passed away unexpectedly in 1925 at which time his wife, Olive Morrison Jones, assumed sole ownership. Daughter Ellen Margaret Jones, a 1923 graduate of Otterbein and likely already a seasoned employee, ran the operation from that point to its end some forty years later. In 1964, Otterbein opened its own bookstore in the new Campus Center on West Home Street thus ending an amazing run of seventy-two years spanning three generations of Morrisons. It seems reasonable to conclude that James Mossman was the Founder and the J. L. Morrison family was the Foundation of the University’s bookstore. The Morrisons are buried at Otterbein Cemetery.

In June of 2019, twenty bronze plaques were mounted on the exterior fronts of historic structures in Uptown Westerville. This project was an effort of Uptown Westerville, Inc. whose purpose is to preserve and promote the city’s “main street” district. I was proud to be part of this volunteer committee undertaking. Funding was entirely by Bill Bishop and family and by Bert (Otterbein Class of 1949) and Jane Morrison Horn (Otterbein Class of 1950) and family. Jane’s great uncle was J. L. Morrison, and two of the plaques are mounted on former locations of the University Book Store.

Published 1/18/2021. Don Foster, Otterbein Class of 1973. donfoster73@gmail.com