History Of The Bahá'í Faith In Ithaca, NY

In roughly 50 years, the message of the Bahá'í Faith made it all the way from Persia to small Ithaca, NY on the other side of the globe.

Leslie Harris, a native Ithacan and Cornell graduate, has recently compiled this history from various sources including the local historical society. Here is the timeline history:

1897-1898: Meetings held in Ithaca about the "Bahá'í movement" by Lua and Edward Getsinger

--October 19,1897 Ithaca Journal lists "free scientific lecture tonight by E. C. Getsinger, of Detroit, Mich., at Music Hall. Subject, 'Vibrations.'"
--Ithaca was one of the first small towns in Eastern United States to hear about Bahá'u'llah
--Ibrahim Khayru'llah, first Bahá'í pioneer to the United States, visits Ithaca in late 1897, early 1898
--6 Ithacans become Baha'is by 1898

1910: Nov. 23, regular meetings of Assembly (early name for Bahá'í community, not a Local Spiritual Assembly) Fridays at Dr. Willard E. House's house on S. Cayuga St.

--also meetings at George S. and Mary Helen Hopper's house

1912: June 5, Roy C. Wilhelm delegate, elected National Spiritual Assembly member

--July 2, Ithaca believers visit 'Abdu'l-Bahá (the eldest son of Bahá'u'llah) in New York City (Mrs. Alice (?) House, Elizabeth Chandler, Hettie B. Townley)
--August 1, Pauline Crandall is delegate

1914: Regular meetings at Dr. Willard E. House's house on S. Cayuga St.

1917: William Remey gives talk to Ember Club (?) about "Women in the East", and the Bahá'í Faith

1919: Supplication to 'Abdu'l-Bahá (Mr. & Mrs. House, Elizabeth Chandler, Hettie B. Townley, Edith Whiting)

1920: Hettie B. Townley appears to have officially become a Bahá'í (from her "Bahá'í notebook") by this time

1921: Hettie B. Townley reads the "Bahá'í Bulletin" frequently

--also holds meeting on the Faith in the scarlet fever ward (of hospital ?)
--also mentions in diary a (Bahá'í ?) assembly meeting
--also plays "'Abdu'l-Bahá's record" (recording of 'Abdu'l-Bahá saying a prayer)

1922: Meetings continue at the House's

1928: Bahá'í meetings held at Elizabeth Chandler's house, also at the House's

--H. B. Townley contributes to Bahá'í Fund regularly
--through 1930, Bahá'í "group" established in Ithaca

References:
Diaries of Hettie B. Townley, Dewitt Historical Society
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States
Stockman, Robert H. The Bahá'í Faith in America, Vol. 1. Wilmette: Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1985.
The Ithaca Journal, October 19, 1897
'Abdu'l-Bahá, God Passes By

Compiled by Leslie Harris

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