Oxford's Community Arts Center

I had the honor yesterday of presiding over a lovely renewal of vows ceremony for my friends, Nick and Kayla Danford, at Oxford's Community Arts Center.

This venerable old building is the former home of the Oxford Female Institute, later known as Oxford College and Oxford College for Women. It is a registered historic building in Oxford, Ohio, listed in the National Register since 1976.

The Oxford Female Institute's first president was John Witherspoon Scott, father of first lady Caroline Harrison, who graduated from the college in 1853. The move of the Scott family from Cincinnati to Oxford occasioned the transfer of Caroline's boyfriend, Benjamin Harrison, from Cary's Academy in Cincinnati to Miami University to be near her (Harrison was, of course, elected to be the twenty-third president of the United States in 1888). Miami University assumed ownership of the school in 1928 and used the building, commonly known as "Ox College," as a women's residence for more than sixty years. It is now the home of the Community Arts Center.

It is a beautiful building, with many fine details. It hosts numerous community and arts-related events, from ballroom dancing to concerts and art displays. To find out more, visit www.oxarts.org.