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Why do people
come to the Chautauqua Institution?
Many of the visitors who return
to Chautauqua year after year describe it as an experience rather
than a vacation -- a place for renewal. The Chautauqua Institution
was founded on the belief that everyone “has a right to
be all that he can be -- to know all that he can know.”
The experiences come in many forms. A dramatic lakeside setting
and the beauty of its National Historic Landmark architecture
(it was designated a National Historic Landmark June 30, 1989)
make the Chautauqua Institution a thriving community where visitors
come to find intellectual and spiritual growth and renewal.
President Tom Becker's
'Three Taps of the Gavel'
Miscellaneous Facts
About Chautauqua
- The Chautauqua Institution was
founded in 1874 by Lewis Miller, an Akron, OH, inventor and manufacturer;
and John Heyl Vincent, a Methodist minister (later bishop).
- The Chautauqua Institution is
a National Historic District, listed on the National Register
of Historic Places. It was designated a National Historic Landmark
June 30, 1989.
- Franklin D. Roosevelt delivered
his "I Hate War" speech from the Amphitheater platform
in 1936.
- Ronald Reagan addressed the
Third General Chautauqua Conference on U.S.-Soviet Relations
via satellite in 1987.
- Carlos Roberto Reina, president
of Honduras, was the first foreign sitting head of state to visit
Chautauqua. He spoke during the Second Chautauqua Conference
on Central America in 1995.
- Thomas Edison was the son-in-law
of Chautauqua cofounder Lewis Miller.
- George Gershwin composed his
Concerto in F in a Chautauqua practice shack in 1925.
- The Athenaeum Hotel was one
of the first hotels to have electric lights.
- Kellogg Hall (built 1889) was
moved from Bestor Plaza to its present site in 1905.
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