THE CHAUTAUQUA COMMUNITY

Lakeside was only three miles from the Marblehead Lighthouse. Located on the shores of Lake Erie in northern Ohio it was initially formed in 1873 as a revival campsite. Revival campsites were popular Christian forums for invigorating the “spirit” of the local people and were more prevalent in certain denominations. The Methodist church was one such denomination. People traveled to hear sermons by well-known ministers, often setting up camps with tents and sitting on wooden planks. Some of the revival meetings lasted for days.

While Lakeside first started out as one of these camps, it evolved into a much different type of community by the late 1800’s. Beginning in 1875 construction on a hotel was started. The hotel when finished changed the community from a tent revival community to a place where both religious renewal and recreation could take place. Lakeside was a progressive thinking “Chautauqua Community”. These communities became popular during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By the early 1900’s there were more then 300 Chautauqua resorts associated with both Christian and Jewish congregations. They were located from New Jersey to California. By definition, a Chautauqua Community is a resort that combines religious observation, summer education, recreation and cultural opportunities.

Lakeside was all that and much more. The newly finished Lakeside Hotel provided a place for not only summer vacationers, but also famous visitors to the community. Cottages were built replacing the tents and eventually the community had established a year round permanent population. It was also a place where women could have more in-depth educational experiences then what was available to them and this included education that was more then just religious. Indeed some of the Chautauqua communities provided secular education in the form of “Normal Schools”. These schools took the place of the college experience, were open to women and their curriculum-enabled women to become teachers. A college education was not required for a woman to teach until after the turn of the century. Some of these early Normal Schools went on to become accredited colleges and universities in the mid 20th century.

Lakeside was considered one of the better Chautauqua’s because college professors from Oberlin College, Ohio Wesleyan, Baldwin University, Ohio State, and Wittenberg University spent the summers conducting classes. The classes consisted of art, music, literature, chemistry, foreign languages, geology, and health issues.

Women instructors gave the face of Lakeside a much different role model. These women were educated, strong and independent. They did not necessarily reflect the general population or attitudes toward females. By 1890, Lakeside was advocating health and fitness for women. Women such as Dr. Mary A. Allen gave lectures for girls and women on health and fitness subjects as well as physiology. Medical doctors continued the practice of lecturing on health and hygiene to the Lakeside Community. They were not always men. Dr. Carolyn E. Geiselt’s lectures in 1915 and 1917 focused on Community Hygiene. Dr, Lena Sadler and her husband conducted health conferences during the time leading up to WWI and during the 1918 flu pandemic.


Cultural events were another important aspect of the Lakeside Community. The summer and year round residents attended concerts and guest speakers from a variety of areas. Such notable speakers as Ida Benfrey, Maud Charlesworth Booth, May Antin, Madame Ernestine Raesler Schumann-Heink, contralto Madame Louise Dilworth Beatty Homer (at the time of her appearance the league of Women Voters had voted her one of the twelve greatest Americans. She also had combined a successful career with motherhood), Amelia Earhart, Eleanor Roosevelt and Marion Anderson. Ms. Anderson had been denied permission to sing in Constitution Hall by the DAR in 1939 because she was black. A recognized artist in Europe, the Lakeside Community embraced her concert in 1951.

Organizations were formed early in the community and these brought other speakers and guests to Lakeside. In 1874 the National Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was organized, 1880 the Literary and Scientific Circles, 1890 the National General Federation of Women’s Clubs, 1894, Lakeside Federation of Women’s clubs, 1895 Lakeside Noonday Club, and many other groups and clubs which dealt with political and social issues of the time period were formed. They gave a rich banquet of choices from which the women could draw inspiration as well as become members through their various commitments. When the Women’s Home Missionary Society was organized, Lucy Webb Hayes, the wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes was recruited to be the national president. Lucy was a graduate of the Wesleyan Female College in Cincinnati. Rutherford B. Hayes held reunions of his Civil War regiment at Lakeside. Lucy encouraged undertaking projects to help the recently freed black women in the south and with immigrant women in the North. Although the First Lady broke many female stereotypes, she was opposed to women having the Right to Vote.


A sampling of the speakers who came to lecture include, 1895 Susan B. Anthony, 1930 Jane Adams the founder of Hull House, 1936 Mary McLeod Bethune, 1940 Eleanor Roosevelt, and 1949 Judge Florence Allen. These women had forged a path in unknown territory, their subsequent journey had been long, arduous and life changing. They had made a difference.

Many of the women who were the pioneers of Lakeside and were instrumental in giving it the face of a progressive thinking community were college educated. They came from families who valued and nurtured the mind in both the sexes. They had in many cases husbands who supported women’s rights. They were all strong, independent, and knowledgeable as well as grounded in a deeply bound religious faith. Margaret Herman (n) was about to become one of them. She was going to do something that would have far-reaching political consequences. However, not before another series of tragedies and events touched her life.