Garrett's Views of the Piedmont Chautauqua

Students and friends alike have often asked me how I became interested in history.   Was it a special teacher?   A family friend?   Perhaps a grandparent was a history buff and ignited this flame that basically rules my life these days…….

Actually….it’s a combination of many things including…..family members sharing stories, old buildings on a family farm, books on the Civil War given to me as a child and hearing this man on local television discuss Atlanta’s rich history:
 

 

 

The man to the left is Franklin Garrett...the only official historian the city of Atlanta has known. Garrett spent 28 years as the historian of the Coca Cola Company and researched various aspects of Atlanta's history as well during that time.

His book….Atlanta and Its Environs is one of my most favorite go-to resources regarding the history of the metro area and Douglas County and Douglasville does have a mention here and there.

 

During the 1880s one of the largest events held in Douglas County and perhaps never equaled since  happened to be the Piedmont Chautauqua.   I’ve written about it before here.

 

Franklin Garrett included a section about the Chautauqua in his book mainly centering on Henry W. Grady, editor of the Constitituion and cheerleader for the New South and Marion C. Kiser, Grady’s partner in the Chautauqua.    Grady is pictured below....

 

 Mr. Garrett provides an interesting view of the Chautauqua as well as a humorous remembrance from the opening remarks of Mr. Kiser. Here's what he had to say:

During the summer of 1888,…..[Henry W. Grady…] was engrossed is plans for the Piedmont Chautauqua….

The institution of the Chautauqua had attained great popularity in the United States since 1874, when the first Chautauqua Institution was founded on the shores of Lake Chautauqua, New York, to promote the training of Sunday school teachers.  Since then some 42 other Chautauquas had been organized in various parts of the country.

 

The Piedmont Chautauqua patterned after the original, was largely the inspiration of Grady.   In March, 1888, he called a meeting to explain the movement to a group of Atlantans.

 

A plan was evolved for asking 200 citizens to subscribe $100 each toward the undertaking, after which the Piedmont Chautauqua was incorporated, with Marion C. Kiser, wealthy wholesale shoe and dry goods merchant as president, and Grady as vice president.

The site selected for the new enterprise was the little resort town on the Georgia Pacific Railroad, then known as Salt Springs, though now and for many years past it has been called Lithia Springs.   A spring-fed stream offered possibilities for an artificial lake and other attractions. 

 

Salt Springs already had one resort hotel, advertised as “the most sumptuous summer hotel in the South,” and the promoters of the Chautauqua proposed to erect two smaller hotels.  In addition, plans called for a classroom building, a restaurant accommodating one thousand persons, and a tabernacle seating seven thousand.

 

Yes….you read that right.   Seven thousand people.

 

Lots for summer cottages were staked out and offered for sale, space was provided for various outdoor sports, and the stream was dammed to provide  boating and swimming facilities.  

The Chautauqua grounds are seen in the picture below......

The Georgia Pacific promised to run special trains, making the 21-mile run from Atlanta to the grounds, three miles west of Austell, in 35 minutes.

The Chautauqua announced that it would have instructors in Bible, English, foreign languages, the natural sciences, the fine arts, physical education, and ‘every chair of a first-class university’.   The entire curriculum cost $10.  Any single department was open for a $5 fee.

 

Grady realized that the success of the Chautauqua hinged, not upon the relatively small number expected to register for classes, but upon the size of the crowds  coming out for the special attractions at night and for Sunday sermons.

 

A number of celebrities were signed up for the program.  Congressman William McKinley and Roger Q. Mills came down from Washington to give Georgians contrasting views on the tariff, then a particularly warm issue.  Dr. Talmadge delivered his lecture on “The Bright Side of Things”; and Thomas Nelson Page gave a reading of his “Unc’ Edinburg’s Drowndin’”.

There were sermons, chalk talks and scientific demonstrations by lesser personalities.   A “Hungarian orchestra” gave daily concerts, and several large bands appeared from time to time.   Four leading manufacturers of fireworks produced striking displays in competition for the “Chautauqua championship” and a $1,000 prize.

Marion C. Kiser is pictured below.....
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

July 4, 1888, was selected as the appropriate day upon which to open the Chautauqua grounds.  The featured event being a barbeque.   President  Kiser was slated for an address of welcome.   Successful businessman, sterling citizen and civic leader though he was, [Kiser] was no public speaker nor did he profess to be.  Born and reared on a Fulton County (old Campbell) farm, he had had limited educational advantages.   As a young man he had lived at Powder Springs, not far from Salt Springs, and had, in fact, begun his mercantile career there in a store owned by two older brothers, W.J. and M.P. Kiser [His Atlanta store was located at the corner of Pryor and Wall Streets].

Henry W. Grady, Jr., and his young friend and future [son-in-law], Eugene R. black, were ticket-takers upon the occasion of the Chautauqua opening.   Both recalled an incident in connection with President Kiser’s address of welcome.

The speech had been written out in advance by Grady, but when Kiser rose he fumbled around in his pocket without being able to find the manuscript.  Finally, he looked out upon the crowd and began hesitatingly by saying, “Right down thar is whar I used to hunt foxes.”

Not being able to think of any further extemporaneous remarks he turned to those closest to him and asked, “Whar’s Grady?”

 

The ‘Constitution’ of the next morning reported that “President Kiser’s speech was a model of good sense and good humor, well and briefly expressed.  It was just such a sensible talk as was to be expected from so sensible a man.”

 

The Chuatauqua’s largest crowd assembled on August 28 to hear the closing address by its impresario, Grady, on the subject of ‘Cranks, Croakers, and Creditors’.   The “cranks” were identified as those who started the enterprise, the “croakers” , the fault-finders who predicted failure, and the “creditors” those whose patience and cooperation enabled the Chautauqua to weather a successful season.

  The primary purpose of the Chautauqua was the diffusion of knowledge.  Grady believed so firmly in this objective he personally advanced $5,000 to complete the buildings and $2,500 towards making up a deficit on the teacher’s salaries.
 

This is the front gate of the Piedmont Chatauqua

 

Certainly the idea for the Chautauqua in Atlanta was sound, though the directors erred in locating it so far from the city - because some of the backers happened to own land there. In spite of this handicap, however, the Piedmont Chautauqua continued for many years to carry on the work Grady had started.

Garrett’s main source regarding his Piedmont Chautauqua section was Raymond Nixon’s biography of Grady titled Henry W. Grady:  Spokesman of the New South.  Garrett refers to Eugene R. Black as Grady’s brother-in-law, but other sources including an obituary state Black married Grady’s daughter.

Chatauqua Grounds - Site of the Barbecue Fiasco

I woke up Saturday morning with history on my mind - Lithia Springs history to be exact. I realize there is more than enough history in Douglasville proper to keep me on topic for quite some time with this column, but a factoid I had uncovered  during my research had pushed my interest button. The item I had come across advised during the summer of 1888 close to 30,000 people were pouring into Douglas County  from Atlanta and from points unknown via the railroad.

Think about that for a moment because 30,000 people were a large group coming in and out of our county every day with a purpose other than aiming to take up permanent residence.

30,000.

Daily.

Wow! Was Douglas County hosting the Olympics?

Well, it was something similar for the time period. They were here for the Piedmont Chautauqua.

Now when I first began my general research a few weeks ago I kept running across the word "Chautauqua" and figured it had something to do with Native Americans because the texts would refer to the Chautauqua Grounds. I assumed the texts were referring to hunting grounds or fighting grounds between the Cherokees and Creeks. Once resource I accessed had to do with Camp Hobson. I wrote about it here. The source stated: The Chautauqua grounds were about 1 1/4 miles west of the springs after which the town was named. This is approximately the intersection of Bankhead Highway and Baker Drive. The Chautauqua Grounds were west of Marsh Avenue.

Have you ever heard the old adage about assuming? I was wrong.

The Chautauqua had nothing to do with Native Americans or fighting. The purpose was education on a grand scale.

During the late 19th and early 20th centuries people were hungry for cultural and educational opportunities. The Chautauqua caught on because the events included a mixture of instruction with play. Take the atmosphere of the fair and mix in speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers and preachers for a period lasting three to seven days mix it in with a few fireworks and you get the idea.

It's so easy today for us to hop on the Internet and visit the website for the Smithsonian or the National Gallery of Art. We can hop in the car and travel to Atlanta to see Cirque de Soleil at Atlantic Station or see a Broadway show at the Fox Theater. Here in Douglasville we have the Cultural Arts Center and the Old Courthouse Museum.  We can learn anything we want by accessing it on the Internet including college courses or by purchasing software.

For folks who lived in rural America there just wasn't an opportunity for them until the Chautauqua movement took hold across our country. The main focus was education for adults. The first Chautauqua was organized by a Methodist minister in 1874 in upstate New York as a way to provide educational training for Sunday school teachers. Other enterprising people latched onto his idea because he mixed in an outdoor setting as his venue, and put a new twist on learning. He made it fun.

The idea was copied over and over as daughter Chautauquas sprang up all over the United States. Each Chautauqua lasted for three to seven days, and each day a different headliner would perform or speak. A whole industry sprang up around the Chautauquas in order to provide the entertainment and speakers for such events similar to today's talent agencies or speaker's bureaus. President Theodore Roosevelt said, "The most American thing in America was the Chautauqua."

Several years later during World War I, President Woodrow Wilson advised the Chautauqua was "an integral part of national defense." The Chautauqua movement had its heyday in the 1920s and had tapered off by the late 1940s with the widespread use of radio and with television soon hitting the scene.

The Piedmont Chautauqua held in Lithia Springs, Georgia was the brainchild of Henry W. Grady, editor of the Atlanta Constitution and promoter of the New South following Reconstruction. Some Chautauquas across the county were on a circuit. They would breeze into small towns, set up tents, educate and entertain the people and then move on to the next town. Grady wanted the Piedmont Chautauqua to be different. He wanted it large and lavish. He wanted it permanent. He even wanted people to be able to buy or rent cottages on the grounds, so a few would have a permanent Chautauqua lodging spot though there were several large hotels in the area. I have been told that the streets behind today’s Wyatt Pharmacy in downtown Lithia Springs–Marsh Avenue, Miller Way and Kiser Avenue –are all streets that led to the area where lots were sold for cottages.

Grady chose the location of Salt Springs, Georgia because it had railroad access, it wasn’t too far from Atlanta, and the area was already established as a resort town with the magnificent Sweetwater Park Hotel. You can view the magnificent structure here or here.

It’s amazing to think such a place was right here in Douglas County–in little Lithia Springs–being visited by the likes of Presidents McKinley, Taft and Theodore Roosevelt. Members of the Astor, Vanderbilt, and Whitney families visited the hotel for the curative waters and spa treatments. They would travel in their own rail cars and then use the hotel's dummy line to reach the springs.

The Sweetwater Park Hotel property was the perfect spot for Henry W. Grady’s Chautauqua plans because if his “New South” ideals. Douglasville was a fine example of a postbellum “New South” town leaving old ways behind and attempting to embrace industry and commercial business.  Douglasville’s businessmen, professionals and politicians all adhered to Grady’s “New South” ideals.

Henry W. Grady was already friends with several of the movers and shakers in Douglasville and worked with them directly to get the project off the ground including Thomas R. Whitley, John B. Duncan, and Charles O. Peavey (see article here), editor of the Weekly Star, Douglasville’s newspaper at the time.   Joseph S. James, Douglasville’s first mayor among many other positions he held over his lifetime, was an investor along with Grady’s partner, Marion C. Kiser, a Fulton County Commissioner. Grady hired an architect and landscaper–L.B. Wheeler and Joseph Forsyth Johnston respectively–to get busy designing and building the Chautauqua grounds.

Take a look at what they came up with here.   What a wonderful structure for education and entertainment and right here in Douglas County!  The Lithia water site advises:The  Chautauqua buildings were built after the Moorish style, with plain wings and towers and minarets clustering to the center.  The Tabernacle seated seven thousand people and was located in an immense grove with exquisite gardens and lawns, rose mounds, and a reflecting lake.

In the days leading up the Piedmont Chautauqua the papers heightened anticipation regarding the Chautauqua by giving a daily progress update. Fannie Mae Davis recounted in her book, Douglas County, Georgia: from Indian Trail to I-20, a June 15 headline read, “ONLY 25,032 MINUTES REMAINING INCLUDING NIGHTS.” To celebrate some of the progress made by the end of June Chautauqua organizers decided to sell tickets to a barbeque meal where the proceeds would benefit the Confederate Veterans Home. The event was advertised far and wide and even made the Atlanta paper. The food was prepared including 30 kids, 10 young calves, 12 sheep, 300 pounds of butter, 50 dozen lemons, 200 ears of corn and 20 bushels of tomatoes. What the promoters didn’t anticipate was the timing it took to have that amount of food cooked when people showed up. They also forgot  the fence surrounding the grounds had not been finished.  It was estimated approximately 3,000 non-ticket holders managed to get on the grounds. Chaos ensued when there wasn’t enough food to serve everyone. The newspapers advised the Piedmont Chautauqua had its first and its last barbeque!

The barbeque fiasco was just a little set back. The Piedmont Chautauqua opened in fine style.  The Lithia Springs Mineral Water site advises:  [Henry W. Grady] went to great lengths to secure twenty-one eminent professors from such schools as Yale, Harvard, Princeton, John Hopkins, Vanderbilt, and the University of Virginia. The Summer College offered courses in English Language and Literature, German Language and Literature, French Language and Literature, …Latin and Greek, Physics, Botany, Chemistry, History and Pedagogies, New Testament, Arabic, Assyrian, and Hebrew Language and Literature.  The Assembly Schools included Physical Culture, Decorative Arts, Fine Arts, Elocution and Music.  In keeping with the Chautauqua program, a two-day program offered “Sunday school days” for workers and children.

Grady had intended to hire several well known writers of the time including Atlanta’s own Joel Chandler Harris aka Uncle Remus to perform readings of their works at the Chautauqua, but from a list of six famous authors he was only able to secure one–Thomas Nelson Page. The Atlanta Constitution for August 2, 1888 stated: Mr. Thomas Nelson Page, the famous southern author, arrived in Atlanta yesterday morning.  He spent the day in visiting points of interest about the city with Mr. Clarence Knowles [an Atlanta politician], and last evening went to Chautauqua.  Tonight he will give readings from his works. Page ended up reading from his "Unc' Edinburg's Drowndin" to the delight of those in attendance.

The Lithia Springs Water site further advises:  The Piedmont Chautauqua formally opened on Sunday, July 8, 1888, with sermons by three famous preachers and an illumination by ten thousand colored lights.The Eighth Calvary Regiment Band of the Republic of Mexico, proved to be such a sensation, the trains from Atlanta to the Chautauqua were packed at every scheduled run. After a rendition of “Dixie and the Star Spangled Banner” at each performance, the Band received “vociferous applause.”
Indeed, Grady’s Chautauqua had exceeded all expectations.

Sadly, Henry W. Grady would be dead with the year, but his grand Piedmont Chautauqua lives on in the history books even if the grand hotel and magnificent Chautauqua buildings are a distant Douglas County memory.