Catholic Chautauqua on Lake Champlain
Oct. 8—PLATTSBURGH — Cliff Haven resident Roger Black began exploring the origins of the Catholic Summer School of America after he was tipped off by a postcard album belonging to another Cliff Haven Homeowners Association member.
While digitizing the Clinton County Historical Association and Museum's archives, Black, a volunteer, was able to cull 80 or so images of what flourished on the shores of Lake Champlain for about 55 years before Cliff Haven came into existence.
"Which is kind of amazing that photographers kept coming back and documenting what was going on at the Catholic Summer School," Black shared recently with Cliff Haven Friends at Valcour Brewing Company in Plattsburgh.
UNIQUE ORGANIZATION
Black gleaned most of his research from the Press-Republican's predecessors.
"Somebody would write up a press release, and you would see everything that they wanted you to see and read about with the Catholic Summer School of America," he said.
"There were really very involved lectures."
Besides Catholic topics, there were lectures on literature, science, current affairs and history.
"It really was a unique organization," he said.
"That got me really, really intrigued."
POST CIVIL WAR
Black explained to his neighbors how the Catholic Summer School came about, why Cliff Haven was chosen and what it was like there from 1896 to 1941.
Black traced CSSA's formation back to the post-Civil War era.
"People were settling down," he said.
"The economy was getting pretty good. There was a growing middle class. We were all feeling better about ourselves. Two gentlemen from Ohio — Lewis Miller and John Heyl Vincent — they were Methodists.
"One was a preacher, and one was a businessman. They got to talking with each other, and they both came to the conclusion that the Christian education system in the Protestant Church was flawed."
The men deduced there was a lot of emphasis on the Bible and Bible training but not much on education.
"They felt the church could do a lot more for people," Black said.
"Education wasn't available for everybody, but it was to people of the church. They came up with an idea. I think it was a very clever idea. In searching around, they settled on Chautauqua, which is in western New York, south of Buffalo."
Chautauqua is also a lakeside tourist economy like Plattsburgh.
LECTURE CIRCUIT
"They would put on an event," he said.
"You have to understand that back then in 1874, lecturing was an entertainment for a lot of people. These lecturers were on circuits."
In Plattsburgh, lecturers spoke at the Plattsburgh Opera House, a 1,000 seat venue on Marion Street.
"That's what they used to do," Black said.
"Bring those lecturers in, people would show up, and it was an evening's entertainment.
"They put on that event in Chautauqua and invited not only Methodists but all Protestant religions — Sunday School teachers, the whole community: the preachers, the lay people, everyone that was interested in education in the church."
The first Chautauqua lasted approximately three weeks, and its success spurred the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle (CLSC).
"That was a really fascinating thing," he said.
CLSC MOVEMENT
"I don't know if you're familiar with the Chautauqua Movement, and it is still going on today. It's a different form and somewhat smaller, but it is still a thriving organization."
The CLSC, started in 1878, was similar to a four-year correspondence course where people were invited to join, given booklets to study, and received a certificate after four years.
"There was a final exam of sorts," he said.
"You can't equate it with a college final, but you, as a participant having read the books, would write about what you read.
"It became very, very popular. There was something to the tune of 100,000 people participating over the years, over 10,000 graduates."
READING CIRCLES
The Chautauqua Movement encouraged Reading Circles, and every year all the students studied the same thing.
"Each year, they specialize in areas," he said.
"They included history, literature, science, philosophy, subjects that a lot of people were interested in but didn't have a great deal of exposure to."
Students in metropolitan areas were encouraged to enroll in Reading Circles.
Monthly, they gathered in each other's homes or a library and discussed what they read.
This model was adopted by Catholics, who created Catholic reading circles.
The Catholic Education Unit produced booklets and encouraged Catholics to read them, join Catholic Reading Circles and discuss books.
"That became a very popular thing to do," Black said.
"It's quite interesting that Catholics felt a little bit discriminated against back in the 1800s. In America, there was a growing immigrant population, Irish immigrants, Italian immigrants, all coming to America. And lot of them were dwelling in poverty and tenements and what not.
"The Irish Catholics, Italian Catholics, other Catholics were looked down upon as a poorer group of people compared to America's elite, which was largely white Anglo-Saxon Protestant."
CATHOLIC CHAUTAUQUA
The Reading Circles gained popularity in the Catholic community.
In 1892, Warren E. Mosher, founder of the Catholic Reading Circle, sent a letter to the Catholic Review asking if a Catholic Chautauqua should be formed.
"I find it interesting that he called it a Catholic Chautauqua," Black said.
"That became the founding thought of the creation of the Catholic Summer School of America."
The Catholic Education Unit organized a meeting in New York City on May 11 and 12, 1892.
Mosher was there.
"In that two-day meeting, they decided there should be a group called something like a Catholic Chautauqua," Black said.
"In two days, they decided, 'Yeah, let's do this.'
"A week later, they assigned New London, Conn., as an experiment to host a three-week meeting of the concept of Chautauqua."
The theoretical Catholic Chautauqua was renamed the Catholic Summer School of America.
"Somebody in the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in New London, Conn., wrote back saying, 'Are you nuts? It's May now. You want us in July to hold a three-week meeting and invite lecturers and accommodate all these people? Are you crazy?' They were told, 'No, we want you to do it.'"
The July session happened and was declared a success with 1,500 in attendance including Catholic educators, clergy, and a lot of interested reading circles.
"Right from the beginning, the reading circles and the Catholic Summer School of America had a very close relationship," Black said.
LOOKING FOR A HOME
There was a follow-up meeting in September in which the CSSA's formation was discussed as well as a search launched for an appropriate site.
"I think thinking about the way it was done in Chautauqua, they were going to do the same thing which is get a place that the people would want to go to in the summer, which means get them out of the cities," Black said.
"They decided against a couple of the early suggestions — Atlantic City, New York City, Long Island. They decided they would look elsewhere."
Several railroads offered sites such as in the Thousand Islands, an island in the St. Lawrence, Lake Placid and places in the Adirondacks.
"What got them the most interested was that the D&H Railroad offered a 450-acre site in Cliff Haven," Black said.
"Stepping back for a second, the D&H were also the owners of the Champlain Hotel, which has Clinton Community College now."
"The D&H realized they had something there they could develop even further, and there was a piece of property adjacent to Clinton Community College, which was the Armstrong Estate."
The D&H offered to purchase the Armstrong Estate and give it to the CSSA.
Armstrong, a farmer, put in a $5,000 donation, which was sweetened by another $5,000, an anonymous gift from possibly Judge Riley.
"It was the whole 450- acres plus $10,000 cash," Black said.
"The only stipulation that the D&H put on it was that it had to be an educational institution. In time, the Catholic Summer School would have to invest at least $40,000 into the property, and that was about it."
ARMSTRONG ESTATE
The CSSA received an educational institution certificate from New York state.
The Armstrong Estate included parts of what would become Plattsburgh Air Force Base.
"They built an 18-hole golf course, some tennis courts there and whatnot and a park," Black said.
"Where the park is now in Cliff Haven Park was exactly where a park was with some baseball fields. You can still see the cement platform that it was built on back in that park, back by the railroad tracks."
The D&H built a very nice railroad station, and the CSSA campus would include a laundry, auto garage, barn, and a few other buildings.
"The original Armstrong homestead became a caretaker's cottage, I believe," Black said.
"This is a map from the 1920s of the Catholic Summer School itself. It's got almost all of the buildings located on it. A few haven't been built. You could see a lot of lots. There were not that many lots sold, but they had big plans in the beginning."
'THE CASINO'
A Plattsburgh architect drew up a design for the CSSA grounds that included many lots in Woodcliff.
The Champlain Club, "The Casino," built for $10,000, was one of the first buildings constructed.
"I came to understand that a casino was the name for the meeting house," Black said.
"It would become the administration and where a lot of the meetings would be taking place."
The Casino was eventually turned over to a private NYC men's club.
"They sold it for like $1, just a legal thing," Black said.
"The Champlain Club did function the whole time the Catholic Summer School was in existence as a private club with private membership.
"They had a very close relationship with the Catholic Summer School, including a close financial relationship.
"So I think you have to graduate the hierarchy of the Catholic Summer School in that they created a funding mechanism through a private club. It continued very, very closely right through the end of the Catholic Summer School."
Email Robin Caudell:
Twitter:@RobinCaudell
