Enterprise: Second Oldest in U.S.?
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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)