In the year 1896, the firm of Coburn and Barnum expanded, taking on two new partners, long-time employee, W. Dominick Benes, and Walter Hubbell. The new firm moved that year from the Blackstone Building in what today is the Warehouse District to the recently-built New England Building on the north side of Euclid Avenue, just east of Bond (East 6th) Street. In the same year, Forrest Coburn's elderly mother was involved in a serious trolley car accident, which led to acrimonious litigation. Also that year, the firm undertook a number of new projects, including designing a new building for the Western Reserve Historical Society. And, according to his obituary, Coburn was visibly upset over delays in completion of renovations he designed for the First Congregational Church on Franklin Avenue--his own church. Perhaps it was all to much for Coburn, who never even reached his 50th birthday. He died in December 1897, according to the newspapers of the time, from "overwork." (The article above appeared in the Cleveland Plain Dealer edition of April 23, 1896.) | Source: Cleveland State University, Michael Schwartz Library, Special CollectionsDownload Original File
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Cleveland State University, Michael Schwartz Library, Special Collections
