by Paul R. Spitzzeri
The astounding growth of Los Angeles in the late 19th and early 20th centuries involved many core components and a wide array of consequences and among these was the dominant position taken by Protestantism among Angel City residents as a majority of migrants to the metropolis were members of many denominations from that main branch (along with Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy) of Christianity.
The largest population of Protestants at the time were adherents of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the prominence, in the early years of the Twentieth Century, of the First M.E. Church, located on the northeast corner of Olive and Sixth streets across from Central (6th Street) Park, now Pershing Square, and its powerful pastor, the Rev. Charles Edward Locke (1858-1940), was palpable.
Locke, who hailed from Ohio and presided over the 1901 funeral of the assassinated President William McKinley because of their personal ties, assumed the pastorate at First M.E. in September 1908 and remained for a dozen years before leaving to minister in The Philippines. He was a significant figure in religious and political terms with his involvement in many moral reform efforts in the city, including one covered in a previous post based on his booklet, “White Slavery in Los Angeles“.
For this “Take It On Faith” post, we feature from the Museum’s collection, a postcard showing the church as it hosted the convention of the Woman’s Home Missionary Society, a very important Methodist organization formed at Cincinnati in 1880 and first led by Lucy Hayes, wife of President Rutherford B. Hayes, in October 1909. The entity worked with households to inculcate better living conditions in the framework of American civilization as it defined it and the focus was generally on ethnic minorities, though some work was done with poor whites in rural and urban areas.
This 28th convocation, with all sessions open to the public, was the first west of the Rocky Mountains and points to the growing popularity of the Angel City as a convention site for all types of groups at the time and subsequently, not to mention the rising power of women in Methodist activities. Special trains conveyed hundreds to the city with some leaving Cincinnati on 1 September and stopping at cities where special meetings were held, most recently San Francisco.
In its edition of the 3rd, the Los Angeles Times reported on the imminent arrival of hundreds of delegates and opined that “this missionary society is one of the great factors of the spread of Methodism in the home field,” while it was noted that representatives came from the continental states and territories, as well as the non-contiguous possessions of Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico. Five local delegates were from Long Beach, Los Angeles and Pasadena.
As for sightseeing excursions, the paper observed that “the visitors will be taken on a tour of Chinatown and will visit the Japanese Home on Twelfth street,” as well as the “Frances DePauw School for Mexican girls” near Prospect Park at the north edge of Boyle Heights, the community co-founded by William H. Workman, nephew of Homestead founders William Workman and Nicolasa Urioste. The new Deaconess Home and Hospital on South Hope Street was to be visited, as was Pasadena, the Mt. Lowe resort, and the prominent women’s club, the Ebell. Notably, on the penultimate day, Mrs. B.S. Potter of Illinois was to talk on “Mormonism, A Menace to American Homes,” while a final session concerned “Temperance, and Its Future in America.”
The card, postmarked on the 8th, was sent by C.A. Hazzard to Lucena McBride of the Crown City and a message dated the 7th stated “I looked for you girls [including McBride’s sister Lillian] at the Con. today but didn’t see you” and asked “When are you coming?” Hazzard added that if they wrote to the Lankershim Hotel, situated at Broadway and 7th, a short distance from the church and which was the official convention lodgings, she would receive a message and hoped to see them soon.
The convention opened on the 6th with the Los Angeles Record of the following day noting that the morning comprised an invocation by George F. Bovard, president of the University of Southern California, a Methodist-affiliated institution until 1909, and a meeting of the “department of young people’s work” while the afternoon included other departments’ reports and a gathering of bureau secretaries.
In the evening, presentations included one on work done with California Indians, while others dealt with other indigenous populations in the western states along with one on “Mexico in the United States.” The Los Angeles Express of that day made special mention of an Alaska exhibit, focused on home missionary work about native peoples of that territory.
Under the heading of “Woman Rules,” the Times, also of the 6th, stated that the First M.E. Church “is an ideal convention place” as it offered space for storing baggage, a writing room and post office (perhaps this is where Hazzard penned her message?), rest areas with chairs and couches, and places for committees to meet.
Two new entrances were added to the structure, including one from the Sunday School area onto 6th and a north-side one by means of an iron-railing staircase, both solving congestion problems at the main corner entrance. Moreover, the paper recorded, “the main auditorium has been handsomely decorated with flowers and ferns, and will present a bright appearance” during the conference.
The Los Angeles Herald of the 7th quoted from the opening address by the Society’s leader, Mrs. George O. Robinson of Detroit, who remarked that “we have had an educational journey that has helped us better appreciate wonderful California, and now we are here in the beautiful ‘City of the Angels’ to begin our review of the work of the past year and to make comprehensive plans to meet the opportunities of the coming year.”
After adding that it was here honor to be one of several leaders commissioned by members “as the vanguard of a great army of 130,000 members” of the organization across the country, Robinson asked “do you women realize your responsibility?” adding her wish, “may you rise to the height of your great privileges” while also cautioning, “do not let sight-seeing, social pleasures, and do not let anything interfere with your presence at all business sessions.”
The president recommended special commemorations of the 30th anniversary of the Society the following year and then offered another question of “how can we cultivate the home field” and answer the query of how to “train young women to fill the responsible positions” involved in the organization’s work. Locke, in brief remarks, called his church “the greatest Methodist church on earth,” while modestly calling himself, the “present incumbent.”
A welcome was offered in the evening by Mayor George Alexander, who won election after the recall, the first in city history, of predecessor Arthur C. Harper, on a reform ticket, with moral issues relating to alcohol and prostitution being a focus along with corruption in city government and the police department, among others. He told the assemblage that “Los Angeles is sometimes called a city of conventions” but that the municipality was “especially honored” to have the Society in its midst. He then commented,
Your aim is to lift up the ignorant and distressed, and your success means not so much of greatness for you as it does of blessings to others.
Yet your very unselfishness has caused you to grow and prosper till our land is dotted with your industrial schools, your deaconess homes [for youth and families] and your hospitals, and you are rich in possessions as well as in helpful deeds.
We feel that in entertaining you we are in some way expressing our esteem for the hundreds and thousands of women in our land who are carrying forward this great work—the women who sacrifice and labor to do the little things, which added make the greater ones.
We believe that your coming together and the meetings you will hold will benefit us by increasing our zeal and inspiring us to do our part toward making our country in reality a Christian nation and our city a city of the a[n]gels, as its name implies. Christian missionaries and teachers are the greatest power for good in our nation today.
The Times of the same day observed “the great enthusiasm” of “a body of thoroughly businesslike women, who know how to handle a big gathering” and praised Robinson, who “handles the gavel like a veteran, and dispatches the business with promptness and discrimination.” Meanwhile, Treasurer Mrs. George H. Thompson was greeted with applause as she reported the Society added nearly $100,000 to its coffers in the previous year, which had nearly $600,000 total.
The paper was pleased to report that “the Southern California women have carried off the banner by a great lead” as, for the third time, they provided the largest amount of funds, generating not quite $31,000, more than 25% more than Pittsburgh and its contribution of $23,000. Robinson then, in addition to her comments noted above, told the audience, “I hope the ministers, our fathers and brothers here on the left, will take notice what a hundred thousand women and children have done” in the year’s work.
In a brief editorial comment, the Express of the 7th offered its view that,
[The] Woman’s Home Missionary society, which is holding a convention in Los Angeles, is one of the numerous organizations which gives the—ah—falsehood—to assertions women are not fit to take an active share in the responsibilities of government.
This is a notable statement given the importance of the role of women in both the suffrage and temperance movements, which were gaining steam state-by-state during the era (including the former manifested by reform efforts culminating in 1911 with granting women the right to vote in California elections) and by the end of the decade brought about the passage of the 18th and 19th amendments to the Constitution.
The second day of the convention included a lengthy period of debate and discussion about whether the method of electing national officers for the Society was to be changed, with it decided to retain the old system. A Berkeley, California delegate spoke for the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society and observed “we are engaged in the same work” as the home association, employing the metaphor that “like the chameleon, sometimes we are one color and sometimes another, but we have the same aim, to strive and obey the command of the Master to ‘Go ye and teach all nations.”
The secretary of the Department of Home Guards and Mothers’ Jewels spoke on “Ignorance is Indifference and commented that, “if the children will be indifferent to home missionary work, they will grow up indifferent” and she continued,
Our whole object is the training of the child, not so much in a knowledge of the work, as in a love for it . . .
It is a part of our responsibility to see that the uninformed are made to know what we are doing.
Ignorance is indifference, and to ever learn anything of the work one must take an interest in it, and an active interest, not a mere passing survey. Inspiration is information, and we must obviate ignorance by counteracting indifference with true knowledge.
A specific example was given of how the department utilized “scrapbooks on historical and kindred subjects” in working with young charges, while a pair of textbooks published by the Society were mentioned, these titled “Under Our Flag,” highlighting Americanization through patriotism, and “Citizens of Tomorrow,” which obviously would engender those aspects in terms of how citizenship was inculcated.
The Times titled its summary of the second day “Hard Jolt to Old Notions” under the descriptor of “Upsetting,” though there was first some good news, as relayed by the corresponding secretary, who reported some “startling facts” regarding the doubling of membership and the subscription list as well as receipts of funds in a decade, while special fund amounts tripled and the value of Society-owned property nearly doubled to not far under $1.5 million. She did note, however, that educational expenditures in New York State were almost $21 per student, while, in Tennessee it was under $3 and in Alabama just $1.50.
With that, we’ll return with part two and further activity at the conference, so be sure to look out for that very soon.