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E. J. Goodrich
Born in Connecticut in 1831, E. J. Goodrich served a number of roles as an Oberlin citizen from the antebellum period until well after the end of the Civil War. Goodrich first opened a bookstore in Oberlin in 1856. In the book business for over fifty years, Goodrich also took on a number of elected positions. 1860 witnessed Goodrich's election as recorder for the city. Along with the vast majority of Oberlin citizens, Goodrich held staunch Republican Party ties. Following the Civil War, he served as mayor of Oberlin in 1866 and 1867. In 1868, as his fellow citizens actively supported the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, Goodrich endorsed the nomination of Ulysses Grant for President. While politics remained important to Goodrich, however, other pressing conerns drew his attention as well. In 1877, along with G. W. Shurtleff and O. F. Carter, Goodrich pushed for a railroad line from the Perry County coal fields to Lorain. Two years later Goodrich again pushed for this measure, hoping to facilitate travel between Oberlin and the Ohio coal fields for Oberlin residents. In addition to these accomplishments, Goodrich served as a college trustee from 1978 until his death, as well as a superintendent of the First Church Sunday School for forty years, until 1908. A longtime resident of Oberlin, a member of the Republican Party, and a devoted member of First Church, E. J. Goodrich died June 24, 1912.
Source: Wilbur H. Phillips, Oberlin Colony: The Story of a Century (Oberlin, 1933).
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