The Story of the Chautauqua on Lake Erie

On a warm Wednesday, August 27, 1873, a group of Methodist preachers unloaded axes and shovels and began clearing a tract of land near Lakeside's present-day Central Park. They built a podium, plank benches and improvised several platforms of timber and stone upon which fires would light the meetings to come. On the edge of the clearing twenty or so tents provided shelter for preachers and their families. People from the surrounding countryside arrived on foot and in wagons. Lakeside's first public event was about to begin. It was an old-fashioned camp meeting revival with rousing hymns and preaching that matched the surrounding bonfires. Tradition says the idea for that first Lakeside meeting had been born at a Fourth of July picnic when a group of Methodists decided their lake shore picnic site would be ideal for rekindling the spirit of the camp meeting revivals of frontier days.

Lakeside's official history began under the sponsorship of the Central Ohio Conference of the Methodist Church. Among the early organizers and financial backers were Alexander Clemons, the octogenarian patriarch of one of the peninsula's leading families, the Reverend Richard P. Duvall, a local Methodist minister and ex-missionary to relocated Fox and Sac Indians in Oklahoma, B. H. Jacobs, an immigrant from Denmark, civil war veteran and Port Clinton store owner, and 27-year- old Samuel R. Gill who had grown up on the peninsula.

For the rest of that summer of 1873 and the next, revivals continued and the crowds grew. Methodists predominated but other denominations were present and welcomed. Soon a large shelter with a permanent roof and open sides was built near the site of today's Hoover Auditorium. Members of the German-speaking Methodist church joined in 1874 and would eventually build their own auditorium for programs in the German language. That building still stands as Lakeside's South Auditorium.

A few cottages rose on the cleared lots overlooking Lake Erie, while the tents multiplied. Sanitation was basic and beds were not much more than piles of straw covered with quilts and blankets. Cooking was usually done outdoors.

Permanent wooden tent frames soon became cottages. A dormitory-style building, called Pilgrim's Rest, with women on the second floor and men on the first was built in 1874. But increasing crowds demanded more comfort and in May 1875 the first unit of the Hotel Lakeside was built.

Meanwhile in 1874, an Akron, Ohio manufacturer, Lewis Miller, and John Heyl Vincent, a Methodist minister, founded the Chautauqua Institution at Lake Chautauqua, New York. While its initial mission was to train Sunday school teachers, the Chautauqua venture soon expanded into a summertime center for adult education and cultural enrichment. That powerful notion -- a faith-based summer resort offering both religious and secular education -- was to blossom into the Chautauqua movement. By the early 1900s, more than 300 Chautauqua-style resorts associated with various Christian and Jewish congregations had been established from New Jersey to California.

The word Chautauqua became, and is today, the generic descriptive term for resorts that blend summer recreation with religious observance, education, culture and recreation. Most Chautauquas shared similar financial arrangements combining donations with admission fees. The fee entitled the visitor to most if not all the organization's recreational, educational and cultural offerings. While there were always some disadvantages to fencing off a small town, the savings realized in administrative costs went a long way toward paying for quality talent.

The growing Chautauqua movement was a natural for Lakeside. Its first Sunday school training sessions were held in 1877, which blossomed into a robust Chautauqua with a full program of education, cultural arts, religion and recreation during the 1890s. Those same four founding elements, or "pillars," remain in place at Lakeside today.

Lakeside's spiritual roots have remained strong throughout its 135+ year history. The early revivals and bible studies have evolved into a modern program of Sunday worship, daily study groups, evening vespers on the lake shore as well as special offerings for children and teenagers. Clergy and musicians of all faiths continue to inspire and guide Lakeside audiences with both traditional and contemporary services.

Lakeside continues its educational tradition with seminars ranging from health & fitness, financial management, history, music appreciation and much, much more. And at a time when music and arts education is being eclipsed in American schools, the Fun with Music program for young people and the C. Kirk Rhein Center for the Living Arts offer a wonderful summertime alternative for all ages.

Cultural offering have expanded exponentially throughout the years to include all varieties of arts and entertainment. Performers Victor Borge, Al Hirt, Lionel Hampton, Ray Charles, Shirley Jones, America, the Ohio State Alumni Band, the Dukes of Dixieland, Capital Steps, Peter Noone, Kathy Matea and a well-known Elvis impersonator have all graced Lakeside's various stages.

Educators from around the world have spoken at Lakeside, including Jane Adams, Susan B. Anthony, Gov. William McKinley, Speaker of the House Champ Clark, Amelia Earhart, Sgt. Alvin York, Sen. Robert La Follette, Eleanor Roosevelt, Gen. Smedley Butler, J.C. Penney, Branch Rickey, Lowell Thomas and Drew Pearson.

Sometimes the famous just dropped by for a visit. In the 1870s, President Grant joined fellow civil war veterans in an annual reunion. President Rutherford B. Hayes was a guest at the Hotel Lakeside in 1891. With lights blazing in 1933, the Graf Zeppelin, predecessor of the ill-fated German dirigible Hindenberg, cruised over Lakeside on its way to the 1933 Chicago World's Fair.

In this television and online age, it's hard for us to appreciate how important a place like Lakeside can be. Families, extended families, singles and friends still vacation together here, often times with an eye or an ear connected to life outside the gates with work or other responsibilities. Parents and grandparents alike relax knowing that the kids are safe and happy, and have plenty to do, see and hear each day. Lakesiders come from as far away as Australia and as nearby as Sandusky and Pt. Clinton. They stay for a few hours, a day, a weekend, a couple of weeks, the whole summer, or all year long. And we're all the better for it.

Ref.: Exerpts taken from content provided by William Jeffras Dieterich, The Story of Lakeside by O. L. Shepard and This is Lakeside 1873-1973, by James Allen Kestle. Books published by the Lakeside Heritage Society.

| More