# Enterprise: Second Oldest in U.S.?

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-20 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Duane L. Herrmann, Enterprise: Second Oldest in U.S.?, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> Enterprise: second oldest in U.S.?
> 
> Duane L. Herrmann
> 
> Baha'i News
> 
> 6 March 1987
> 
> This brief overview of the early history of the Baha'i Faith in Enterprise, Kansas, was written
> by Duane L. Herrmann of Berryton, Kansas, a Baha'i for 17 years who has served on
> Assemblies in Topeka and Hays, Kansas, and the Kansas District Teaching Committee, has
> degrees in education and history, and is presently helping the U.S. Baha'i Publishing Trust in
> its efforts to produce a Baha'i encyclopedia.
> 
> It is fairly common knowledge that Chicago is the first and oldest Baha'i community in America.
> And many are aware of the uncertainty as to whether Kenosha, Wisconsin, or New York City has
> the honor of being next in line. But now there is a distinct possibility that a third city may have
> preceded them as the second oldest community in this country.
> After Ibrahim Kheiralla had given his series of classes on the Faith in Chicago a number of times,
> he traveled to new cities, most notably Kenosha. But before that he made a side trip that is only now
> becoming more widely known. Where did he go and what were the results? Was this indeed the
> second Baha'i community?
> There is some evidence I that a student in one of Mr. Kheiralla's Chicago classes was a Miss
> Josephine Hilty who was in that city to continue her musical training. Eventually, she would
> perform in Europe and teach at a Kansas college, but that would come later. Her family had
> connections in Chicago; her uncle had had an exhibit at the Columbian Exposition of 1893, among
> other things.
> Miss Hilty's hometown was Enterprise, Kansas. Her mother, Mrs. Jacob (Bar bra) Ehrsam, was a
> Swiss emigrant who was searching for truth. Mrs. Ehrsam had helped found Enterprise; even before
> the streets were laid out, and the prairie settled by Europeans, she owned and operated with her
> brother the first store there. By the time her daughter went to Chicago, Mrs. Ehrsam was the
> wealthiest woman in Enterprise. But material goods and social status did not satisfy the yearning in
> her soul; she sought out one teacher after another, and when Josephine told her of the teachings of
> Mr. Kheiralla, she invited him to Enterprise to teach.
> Mr. Kheiralla arrived in Enterprise in July 1897 as a guest of the Ehrsams and held classes in the
> parlor of their home which attracted considerable notice. An article in the weekly Enterprise paper
> was headlined: "The Bible Is Not the Truth." 2 The day before, the weekly in Abiline, just down the
> road, headlined its article "Teaches Strange Things." 3 Both articles appeared at the top of the front
> page; the Abilene article was reprinted in both major dailies in Topeka (the state capital, 80 miles
> away). One carried the same headline, while the other announced: "Hoffman's New Religion: The
> People Found Out What Ails Agricultural College Regent." 4 This was a reference to one of Mrs.
> Ehrsam's nephews who apparently attended a few of the first classes. His activities in Kansas
> politics guaranteed ample publicity for Mr. Kheiralla's visit and classes.
> Accounts of class size ranged from 22 to 2"7 students, most of whom were relati\es of Mrs.
> Ehrsam's or other members of "polite society" in the area. The evidence suggests that eight of themincluding four family members- accepted the Faith at that time: with one more enrolled later in the
> year. So it appears that there were at least nine Baha'is in Enterprise, Kansas, in 1897.
> Today a district, regional or national teaching committee would send someone to help them form an
> Assembly and begin community activities such as the ~ineteen Day Feast. Each member would
> receive The American Baha 'j which not only has news of Baha'i activities across the country but
> also carries catalogs and other information from the Baha'i Publishing Trust. Baha'is from nearby
> communities, man v also having Assemblies, would n~ doubt visit the friends in Enterprise whose
> members would be invited to district conventions, summer and winter schools, and other area-wide
> events.
> But that is today, not 1897, 1898 or 1899. Then, the closest Baha 'f community was in Chicago,
> some 600 miles away, and much more remote than it is via a two-hour plane flight. There were no
> other Baha'i communities on the continent. In fact, there were only a handful of isolated Baha'is,
> one in Nebraska, another in South Dakota, with the nearest in Kansas City (where there were two,
> but one of them moved to Enterprise in 1903), and Josephine, who moved to SI. Louis. These others
> were more alone and isolated than the Baha'is in Enterprise.
> As for studying, there were only tWO booklets in all of America on the Faith, both written by Mr.
> Kheiralla and both containing his own personal ideas. There was no other source of information in
> 1897: no books, no magazines, no pamphlets, no cassettes, no movies, no radio station, no
> scriptures. Only the two little booklets. How could these early Baha'is possibly have any idea of
> what a Baha'i community should be?
> The Baha'is in Enterprise did see one another; they were related by family ties or moved in the same
> social circle. But there was no Assembly, and there were no Feasts, deepenings, prayer meetings or
> any other gatherings of a Baha'i nature. Excerpts from some of Mrs. Ehrsam's letters to Mr.
> Kheiralla's secretary give evidence of their situation (spelling is from the original): "This is the first
> time I atemted to write to you although I wished to have done so many times since I had the
> teachings wich makes a bond of unity between us." 6 This was written in May 1899. And in
> another letter she writes, "Its been such a long time since I heard of you .... We are a little band of
> believers here but have no one to instruct us .... What has become of :'vIr. Chase? He used to write
> to one of the believers here but no one has heard lately." 7 She asks if the Getsingers could stop on
> their way to California: "Lett me know how the believers are prospering and how they grow in
> grace and knowledge .... " l
> The only evidence she gives of further activities together are the lines: "We (Rose Hilty, her
> daughter-in-law) live close and see one another every day. We talk much abouth the blessed truth
> and long to hear and know more abouth (it?). 'Oh God give me Knowledge faith and love' is the
> desier of my hearth at all times." 9 She closes, "Hoping to hear from you soon I remain yours for
> the truth, Mrs. J B Ehr- 5am" 10
> Later, in 1912, one of the Baha'is in Enterprise, with her daughter who had accepted the Faith
> sometime after Mr. Kheiralla's visit, met 'Abdu'l-Baha in Chicago. Elizabeth Renwanz is listed in
> The Dawning Place as having attended the ground breaking ceremony for the House of Worship in
> Wilmette, but no city is given for her. i 1
> Shortly after the turn of the century, Rose Hilty and her family moved to Topeka, becoming the
> first Baha'is in that city. The Baha'i community of Topeka has been continuous since then. The
> family returned briefly to Enterprise in 1917-20, during which time a couple of contributions were
> received by Bahai Temple Unity from the Baha'is of Enterprise (some had been received up to
> 1912).12 But no record has been found to indicate that the Baha'is of Enterprise ever gathered
> together for any Baha'i activities after Mr. Kheiralla left them. One long-time resident recalled the
> mother of Elizabeth Renwanz holding . 'religious meetings" in her home about 1912,1] but nothing
> further is known about them.
> Owing to the lack of solid evidence we cannot claim that Enterprise was the second Baha'i
> community in America. But of one thing there is no doubt: it was the second location of organized
> Baha'i teaching on this continent. And that alone will assure a place in history for the Baha'is of
> Enterprise, Kansas, of 1897.
> 
> NOTES
> 
> I. Abilene Weekly Chronic/e, Abilene, Kansas; July 16, 1897, p. I.
> 2. Enterprise Journal, Enterprise, Kansas; July 17, 1897, p. I.
> 3. Abilene Weekly Chronic/e, Abilene, Kansas; July 16, 1897, p. I.
> 4. Topeka Daily Capital, Topeka, Kansas; July 14, 1897, p. 3.
> 5. "Supplication Book of Students in Miscellaneous Cities, from 1895 to (blank),"National BaM'i
> Archives, Wilmette, Illinois.
> 6. Letter dated May 3, 1899, from BarbraEhrsam to Maud Lampson, in "Maud Lampson papers,"
> National Baha'i Archives, Wilmette, Illinois.
> 7. Ibid.
> 8. Letter dated from internal evidence to be late in 1899 from Barbra Ehrsam to Maud Lampson, in
> "Lampson papers," National Baha'i Archives.
> 9. Ibid.
> 10. Ibid.
> 11. Bruce W. Whitmore, The Dawning Place (Wilmette, IL: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1984), p. 246.
> 12. Contributions ledger, Bahai Temple Unity, National Baha'i Archives.
> 13. Helen Erickson to Duane Herrmann, letter of October 23, 1980, in the author's possession.
>
> — *Enterprise: Second Oldest in U.S.? (Used by permission of the curator)*