by Paul R. Spitzzeri
Fiesta Park, an amusement venue in downtown Los Angeles for twenty years, became the location in September and October 1917 of one of the some 300 large-scale revivals of Billy Sunday (1862-1935), an evangelist who was reported to have preached to some 85 to 100 million persons during nearly four decades from the mid-1890s until his death. The featured artifact from the Museum’s collection for this post is a real photo postcard showing a portion of the massive wooden “tabernacle” built for his residency and people walking near the edifice, which included a lunch stand, and which has “October 1917” written on the reverse.
William Ashley Sunday, Jr. (whose surname was Sonntag, meaning “Sunday,” and which was found mainly among Ashkenazi Jews—a prominent person with the name was the late prominent critic /writer Susan Sontag—after emigration to America from Europe) hailed from Ames, Iowa and was born just weeks before his father, newly enlisted in the Union Army as the Civil War raged died just before Christmas 1862 from disease in a camp (this was how the vast majority of soldiers on both sides passed away during the four-year conflict).
Though his mother remarried, Sunday, who was in his early teens, and a brother spent not quite two years in a pair of Iowa homes for orphans of Civil War soldiers. This was said to be where he first played baseball (a sport played around this time by William Temple, a grandson of Homestead founders William Workman and Nicolasa Urioste) and he continued when he returned home and went to high school. After graduating, he worked as a farm hand as well as for an undertaker and then joined a semi-professional team in nearby Marshalltown.
It was there that, in 1882, he was discovered by the famed ballplayer Adrian “Cap” Anson, a native of Marshalltown, and signed to the Chicago White Sox, of which Anson was manager and captain (hence his nickname) and which later became the Chicago Cubs. Sunday played five seasons for the club, playing 50 games in his most productive year of 1885 when he hit .291, then spent two years with the Pittsburgh Alleghenys (now Pirates), where he played his peak of 120 games in 1888. While he hit only .236, he stole 71 bases as he was noted for his speed and his prowess in the outfield.
In 1889, he played many fewer games, though his statistics were proportional to the prior campaign and, the following season, Sunday had his most successful season in many areas, including 84 stolen bases, while playing for Pittsburgh and then the Philadelphia Phillies. After the conclusion of the 1890 season, the 28-year old retired, rejecting a new contract to take a position as assistant secretary at the Chicago Y.M.C.A. and which involved significant ministrations. While playing with the Chicago club, he started attending services at the Pacific Garden Mission in the Windy City and then joined a Presbyterian church, where he met his wife, Nell, who he wedded in 1888.
After a couple of years with the “Y”, Sunday became an assistant to the well-known evangelist J. Wilbur Chapman, who, in turn, preached with Dwight L. Moody, and learned much from Chapman for his future work. In 1896, Sunday, who was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1903, struck out on his own, beginning in an Iowa town not far from where he grew up and using his baseball career as a means to promote his evangelism. He used canvas tents when his crowds grew to substantial sizes, but, after a decade, he turned to wooden “tabernacles” paid for by supporters in whatever locale he appeared.
While and he and Nell, who was widely known as “Ma,” had four children, the stress of separation led the couple to hire nannies to rear them and Nell took on managing Sunday’s revivals starting in 1908. Her administrative skills freed him to focus on his sermonizing and the revivals grew exponentially as people were increasingly drawn to evangelism during a time of major transformation in America, including massive migrations from rural to urban areas, the growth of industrialization, and other upheavals.
As the Sunday organization grew, key figures were hired, including Virginia Asher, formerly associated with Chapman and who focused on appealing to women to great effect, while she also sang duets with Homer Rodeheaver, who joined at around the same time and had a major impact as music director for the revivals. Rodeheaver who was a baritone and trombonist also wrote many popular gospel tunes and recorded extensively and his gregarious personality well served Sunday’s revivals.
Sunday’s style was heavily dramatic and emotive and he employed common colloquial terms and slang, while also being very graphic as he thundered about the evils of lowbrow amusements, indiscriminate sex and the consumption of alcohol, among other topics of concern. His emphasis on grievous sin drew palpable reactions from his crowds, including fainting, and drew the ire of critics who compared him to the 19th century camp meeting preacher and asserted he was manipulating the emotions of his hearers in an unseemly and unhealthy fashion.
There were others, however, who felt Sunday was sincere and had an overall positive effect in promoting his version of Christianity among many millions of people. Because of the use of sawdust to minimize noise in the tabernacles, Sunday hit on the idea of referring to those who he claimed to have converted as persons “on the sawdust trail” and as “trail hitters” to spread the good word from his sermons and revivals. It is commonly acknowledged that his peak was a massive revival in New York City earlier in 1917 and his emphasis on Prohibition along with patriotism as American entered the First World War that spring were key elements to his work as he prepared to come to Los Angeles.
Early indications were that the Angel City location for the Sunday revival was to be elsewhere than Fiesta Park, as reported by the Los Angeles Tribune of 8 May, which informed readers that “the great Los Angeles Billy Sunday tabernacle will be constructed at Praeger park, at Washington, Grand and Hill streets,” this being across Washington from one of Fiesta’s former sports location rivals, known as Washington Gardens and Chutes Park. Praeger was “where all the circuses visiting Los Angeles for the last five years have pitched their tents,” and the Rev. James E. Walker, Sunday’s advance agent, declared it a perfect location, having spoken to local clergy about plans and mention was made that architectural plans were in the city.
Within three weeks later, however, the situation changed, as the 29 May edition of the paper reported that “work on plans for the Billy Sunday tabernacle was started here yesterday by Joe Spiece . . . Mr. Spiece has built forty-seven other tabernacles for the evangelist during the past seven years.” This, however, was dependent on a lease being secured, as negotiations for space were underway, though the builder told the paper,
The building will be 302 feet long and 218 feet wide [around 66,000 square feet], approximately the same size as those used in Baltimore, Kansas City and Detroit. It will be larger than the Philadelphia tabernacle and next in size to those in Boston and New York. It will accommodate 18,000 with 12,000 seated. More than 300,000 feet of lumber will be used. Fifty men will be given employment on the building.
Even at this we have not as big a task as we have had in most cities. Owing to the ideal climate here the building will not have to be closely constructed to keep audiences warm. The construction will only take a few weeks.
Walker remarked that the evangelist was expected to begin his meetings on the 2nd or 9th of September and hold them for two months and that discussions with some 300 local ministers at a gathering at the the First Methodist Church including his providing them detail on the campaign, for which the Angel City was divided into districts.
The same day’s Los Angeles Express, which provided a photo of Spiece, added that, once a lease was signed, work was to begin within an hour, so well-organized was the construction process. The paper commented that “it is planned to establish at least 100 Bible class committees” and those involved in them “will aid the members of the Billy Sunday campaign committee in stirring up interest” in the revival.
Two days later, the Tribune recorded that “Fiesta park . . . has been leased for the Billy Sunday tabernacle” and that “operations on the lot would be started today” with a groundbreaking in a few days. The article went on to note that “the property has been leased for six months, with the privilege of an additional month, from the [Victor] Ponet estate” and the site was considered ideal, as has been previously mentioned in this post, “being close to at least six lines of street railway.” In addition to the size of the edifice, it was remarked that Spiece “will erect on the grounds a restaurant, comfort station and temporary hospital with at least eight beds” with the second item including “a bathroom with shower for Mr. Sunday’s private use.”
A 15 June dinner was planned for the finance committee to launch “the work of underwriting the campaign” and the same day another meal was to be held for local business leaders, with Al Saunders, converted to Christianity by Sunday at a 1914 revival in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and called “one of the most famous Sunday trail hitters,” expected to speak. The Sunday thereafter “all the churches in Los Angeles cooperating will have meetings to arouse interest in the campaign.”
The piece continued that “use of the tabernacle has been granted to the Los Angeles Chautauqua association” for its month-long convocation in July and August and reference was made to the fact that “Fiesta park has been the scene of many big gatherings in the past, including the recent International Christian Endeavor convention.” This was in 1913, though at least one letter-writer, as remarked in part one, criticized the park as being dirty and the location terrible because of filthy air.” Lastly, it was observed that Sunday was concluding his career-topping revival in New York City on 10 June and was to rest until the Los Angeles campaign began.
On 4 June, the groundbreaking ceremony was conducted with the Express publishing a photo of several men, including the Rev. John Albert Eby, pastor of the Wilshire Presbyterian Church, gathered for the first shovel-full of dirt, while the Tribune issued an image of Walker and two other Sunday staffers with documents. This included the Rev. George G. Dowey, who led the Bible class component and who told the paper that each of the 100 committees he was to superintendent would have no fewer than 100 members.
At the groundbreaking, Temple Baptist Church pastor, Rev. J. Whitcomb Brougher declared, as the first gap in the ground was created from digging dirt, “we will just leave this hole for those who will not form in line for the Billy Sunday meeting.” The Rev. Charles Edward Locke of the First Methodist Church was another prominent local religious figure who spoke at the ceremony and “gave a graphic word picture of Billy Sunday,” employing First World War metaphors, the United States just having entered the conflict weeks prior, as the Tribune paraphrased,
He declared the great evangelist possesses the qualities of a submarine, a Zeppelin, a battleship, a fort-two-centimeter gun, a great explosive all combined, and that Sunday is a pacifist with accent on the “fist.”
Locke insisted that the Sunday revival “always will be remembered in Los Angeles,” while Brougher, not to be outdone, highlighted the opportunity for Angel City churches “to forget our differences and all work together” as “this today is the beginning of the greatest thing that ever happened to Los Angeles.”
Dowey remarked that it was expected that not only were all the churches in the city expected to take part in supporting the campaign, but those in the county, as well. He asserted that “in the three and a half years this system has been used it has grown steadily more useful,” including 50,000 laborers in the ongoing New York City revival. He concluded, “from the enthusiasm I have found here, I expect the work to be more successful in Los Angeles than anywhere else.”
In its number of 17 June, the Tribune provided readers an update on the rapid construction progress of the Sunday tabernacle with further details about the massive temporary structure, including that it was to have 30 doors and 84 windows and use more than 50 kegs of nails. As to seating, the evangelist insisted that there be no boxes or loges so that all were to sit on “seats . . . of simple construction, rough planks built solidly in rows.”
On the platform at the southern end (near Pico) of the edifice “will be a special box-like pulpit, specially reinforced to withstand the acrobatic eloquence of the speaker,” famed for his demonstrable poses and movements. Behind this, seats for 2,000 choristers were in a semi-circle and the front was for soloists and musicians, with Rodeheaver acting both as choirmaster and master of ceremonies. At the southeast was the private bathroom for Sunday “who following his services, often dripping with perspiration, leaps into a bath before retiring to his temporary home or hotel.”
Adjoining was to be the hospital, staffed with doctors and nurses and ready to handle any emergency, as well as a room for the members of the enormous choir. The southwest section was to contain a caretaker’s room, express office, lost-and-found, post office, telegraph room and usher’s room. It was clarified that, while the “sawdust trail” was a key element to the revival, the dirt floor was actually covered with chips from the lumber used in construction, comprising two rail cars worth of this material. Six inches were laid down and sprinkled with water, then rolled and packed to be “not only hard, but noiseless,” while also fireproof, and, because of wear, workers added chips until, by the end of the revival, 18 inches were laid.
Vestibules for visitors were placed around the perimeter and the cafeteria was to be about the same size as the earliest of the Sunday tabernacles, while men’s and women’s restrooms were also placed on the outside of the cavernous space. While cost was not provided, estimates were as high as $35,000 in other cities, though Spiece explained the local lumber was obtained inexpensively, so a figure of $20,000 to $25,000 was provided. Another savings was that, not having to procure coal, some $2,500 was to avoid being expended.
An innovation of Spiece to account for the acoustics was his “augophone,” to be shipped as soon as the New York City revival ended. This was a “six-fluted instrument, 16 feet in diameter and 48 feet in circumference” and “is suspended from the ceiling of the auditorium and will hang about six feet above ‘Billy’s’ head.” The device was such that Sunday’s voice would be clearly heard because “without it, his voice would not carry, as his vocal cords are strained.”
With construction beginning on the groundbreaking day, it was anticipated work would be complete on 17 July, thereby being a record time for these edifices and the Tribune added,
The building in which Sunday will fight sin and booze will have a barn-like appearance from the outside, but will serve the people who enter it sufficiently, by the simple arrangement in which it is being constructed. The roof will be covered with one ply of tar paper. The roof will rise thirty feet at its highest point.
With the Chautauqua scheduled for 16 July, Spiece moved up the timetable to the 12th, while it was reported towards the end of June that a guarantee of $25,000 for all expenses associated with the revival was agreed to by local supporters. This was denied by the committee treasurer, who explained it would pay traveling and living expenses, as well as two-thirds of salaries, except that for Sunday who received a “voluntary freewill offering” on the last day and who also paid the remaining third of the pay for his staff.
The edifice was finished sooner than the record-shattering pace noted above, as the Express of 6 July remarked that Spiece, “the twelve-cylinder, non-stop builder,” drove the last nail the prior day,” and, before he left to return home for rest before heading to Atlanta for the next revival after Los Angeles, told the paper, “most of the credit is due to the material men and workmen of this city.” He explained there “was little or no trouble” and “nothing remarkable about it” as “I just went to work as I have done in other cities.” The Tribune of the prior day added that actual work took about a month as there were delays due to the lack of material (it seems impossible to imagine such a project being considered today!).
A late additional use of the tabernacle came in July when a rehearsal was held for a “Red Cross pageant” for the war effort and was part of the Chautauqua event and all that was needed prior was a city inspection and approval, followed by the ability to use the lights installed in the structure. Meanwhile, another rumor addressed concerned an admission charge to the revival, which Rev. Walker quickly explained was not the case, only that some seats were to be reserved, at no cost, for ministers, visiting guests, the choir and the press.
The 15 July edition of the Tribune discussed the preparations of those involved in laying the groundwork for the revival, while Sunday was spending his time off at his ranch east of Portland, Oregon, and it was asserted that “Los Angeles will be ready for the opening of what promises to be the most effective revival campaign Southern California has ever experienced.”
Also mentioned was the evangelist’s son, George, who was said to be the business manager of the campaign and “remarkably like his father, the possessor of dynamic force and energy.” With Billy and Nell being away on the revivals and their children raised by nannies, it may not be surprising that the lives of the Sunday brood was often troubled, with multiple marriages, financial problems, suicide attempts and others. George died in 1933 after a 75-foot fall from the window of a building following a fight with his second wife and suicide was generally attributed.
There were some late developments in August, including, following a Los Angeles Fire Department inspection, the disclosure that firefighters would be stationed at the tabernacle during revival meetings as a precaution, while, when a dedication ceremony was held on the 26th, and this being the proverbial “dog days” of what was generally the hottest time of the year, the need to ventilation meant workers were brought in and “began merrily sawing away” at the roof to create more openings for air.
At that ceremony, Methodist Bishop Adna W. Leonard from San Francisco intoned before some 10,000 audients, who heard Sunday revival songs from a chorus of 1,800, that,
Billy Sunday will warn some people in Los Angeles and there are others he will ‘warm.’ He will make no apology for the Bible or Jesus Christ in his sermons and he will paint such vivid pictures of both heaven and hell that no one who attends his meetings will forget them.
Billy Sunday seems to be crude and rough on the exterior to some who know him not; but when he preaches retribution of sin he does so with a breaking heart, and this is the reason he is able to bring sinners down the “sawdust trail.”
The reason for this tabernacle and for this great series of meetings to open next Sunday is because the ministers of Los Angeles and the church people believe there is only one who can save men from sin.
The Rev. Brougher, who led the services, delivered his own fire-and-brimstone sermon by thundering, “the forces of evil, the saloon gang, gamblers, dealers in social vice, fear Billy Sunday worse than they fear God and the Devil” and propounded that “the lawless element and those who believe in an open-town policy [regarding alcohol] are as much opposed to Billy Sunday as the Devil is.” Moreover, he invited 1,000 attendees to go with him to the City Council meeting the next day to “help the Council wash some dirty linen” when it came to forcing more police action in dealing with prostitution.
Rev. Eby was paraphrased concerning “the wisdom of Los Angeles” concerning the hosting of the Sunday revival:
He said that one couldn’t fool Los Angeles on real estate; couldn’t fool her on weather, on an orange or a perfect lemon, but she certainly has been fooled many a time on religion; that Los Angeles is a city of cults and isms.
George Sunday then told the assemblage that “this campaign is not for the glorification of Billy Sunday” while he claimed that “the unchurched people will be in a mood of expectancy” with religion to be discussed in places unexpected and this meant that campaign supporters had a duty to take advantage of the opportunities before them.
He complimented locals by saying he’d never found better advance work in a city, while adding “Billy Sunday might come into Los Angeles and if the Christian people were not on their knees, his campaign would be an absolute failure.” Consequently, George observed, the sole purpose of the revival was to convert the unchurched and he exhorted, “you invited Billy Sunday here; now it is up to you, Los Angeles!”
With the preparations complete, Sunday arrived in Los Angeles on the 1st of September to begin the revival on the following day, a Sunday, so we’ll return with a concluding third part to summarize the two-month campaign. Check back in with us for that!