Perkins Mansion and John Brown House
Perkins Stone Mansion: Completed in 1837, the Perkins Stone Mansion was built by Colonel Simon Perkins, son of Akron’s founder General Simon Perkins in Akron, Ohio. As one of the finest examples of Greek Revival architecture in Ohio, the Mansion is now a historical house museum whose objects and rooms not only bring to life the Perkins family’s lifestyles over 3 generations, but interpret the history of Akron and Summit County from Akron’s founding to the turn of the century.
John Brown House: John Brown was raised in an abolitionist household, and moved his family to Hudson, Ohio in 1805. In 1844, after years of financial struggle and debtor’s prison, he was offered a rental home and a position by Colonel Simon Perkins, the son of Akron’s co-founder, to work in the sheep and wool business. Brown continued his activity in the Underground Railroad, and even harbored escaped slaves at the Akron home. On October 16, 1859, Brown and his fellow abolitionists, “The Secret Six”, attacked the federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry and armed slaves with the stolen weapons, took hostage the great-nephew of George Washington, and continued to make progress in acquiring the armory. Brown was eventually captured by local militia and hanged on December 2nd, 1859. Many historians believe that Brown’s call to arms and raid was the catalyst that sparked the American Civil War.