Cedar Point Ohio 1922 - Where exactly was the "Advertise" call given?

 Guest post by Leroy

In the 1922 IBSA Convention at Cedar Point, Joseph F. Rutherford gave the famous talk in which he made the important declaration “Advertise, advertise, advertise the King and Kingdom!” Even though photographs of the event do exist, few know the exact spot where this talk was given. Next, we can see two historic photos taken during the discourse. The first one is looking towards the stage, and the second one is from the stage towards the audience:

Many collectors and history enthusiasts have tried to locate the place where the above photos were taken. Today, we can discover it by analyzing a few old as well as recent photographs of the buildings that were present at Cedar Point in 1922.

The building in the next photo is identified in old postcards as the “Convention Hall”:

This building was originally known as the Grand Pavilion and it’s the first big structure erected in Cedar Point which is still standing today. The Grand Pavilion was opened during the 1888 season and had a capacity of 4000 people seated (Francis, Cedar Point - the Queen of American Watering Places (AP Books, 1995), 41). However, this was not the place where the iconic speech took place.

A photograph exists of the interior of the Grand Pavilion, in which we can notice that, even though they are similar, it is not the same place as the one we see in the photos taken during Rutherford’s talk.

The Grand Pavilion is an open hall with a very high vaulted ceiling; it has a second floor with an interior balcony, and doesn’t have columns among the audience, contrary to the building we see in the convention pictures. Also, in the photos from the IBSA Convention we see arch-shaped windows, different from the ones in the Grand Pavilion, which are squared. The Grand Pavilion was lit by 24 chandeliers (Francis,26), as opposed to the 1922 Convention auditorium, in which we can see only bare lightbulbs as a means of illumination.Also, the attendance at the 1922 convention was more than 10,000. A bigger place was required to accommodate such an audience during JFR´s talk, so we can conclude the Grand Pavilion was not the place where the talk was given.

Was there another structure capable of holding such a large amount of people? Yes, there was. Soon after the opening of the Breakers hotel in 1905, a new massive structure was erected; this new building would have two floors, the upper being an enormous dance hall, with capacity for 10,000 people. This structure is known as The Coliseum and is also still standing today.

Unfortunately, I have been unable to locate a photograph taken inside the Coliseum before 1939, the year in which the interior was remodeled into art deco style. However, written accounts of the appearance of the interior of the Coliseum tell us that it did not have a great amount of decoration. The pillars and the ceiling structure didn’t have any cover, and the means of illumination were bare lightbulbs (Francis,106). Despite the remodeling, a few fundamental aspects were preserved and they help us identify the Coliseum as the hall where the famous 1922 speech was given.

Let’s see a photo of the interior of The Coliseum in the beginning of the 1940s:

We can see at the back, the windows with a staggered design, with smaller squares in the upper levels. These same windows are visible in the 1922 photo. Here is a side by side comparison of both photographs:

In the 1922 photo we can see that behind Rutherford, as well as at the back of the audience, there are three arch-shaped windows at the center, followed by two narrower arch-shaped windows, and then the staggered windows. Although this is not seen in the 1940 photograph because the arch-shaped windows are covered by a stage, in other photographs taken from outside the building both styles of windows can clearly be seen.

In the above postcard we can see the arched windows at the center, and if you look closely to the window at the farthest right, you can see the staggered design at the upper part of the window.

This one shows clearly the staggered windows in the wall to the right, and in the wall facing the left of the postcard, we can also see the arched ones.

Finally, in a current photograph of the Coliseum, we can see that the Arch-shaped windows are still there, but the staggered windows have been changed for a different style of new ones.

Now, let’s see a photo side by side comparing the central windows of today’s building with the ones in the 1922 Convention.

As we can see, even today these central windows preserve the same style they had in 1922.

All of this makes clear without a doubt that the building where this famous talk was given is the Coliseum, a building that can still be visited today if one wants to revive those exciting moments in theocratic history.

Cedar Point Ohio 1922 - Then and Thereafter

Guest post by Leroy

This article will locate the exact spot of the 1922 Cedar Point Convention panoramic photograph.

Note: You may need to click on some of the photographs to see them in full.

 

Most of you will know this photo from the 1922 IBSA convention taken at Cedar Point, Ohio, but, where exactly was it taken?

A close examination of the buildings in the background can give us a precise location. Let’s take a closer look, starting from right to left. 

In this image we can identify four landmarks, and with a nice closeup and the help of old postcards and photos, we can positively identify those buildings. In the next four photos you can see a closeup of the IBSA Convention Photo to the right, and a reference photo to the left. Some of the photos were taken from the book Cedar Point – The Queen of American Watering Places, by David W. Francis and Diane DeMali Francis.

First landmark: The Coliseum 

In this old postcard you can clearly appreciate the features of this massive building, called The Coliseum, inside of which was probably given the famous talk by Brother Rutherford when the ADV banner was displayed, Friday, September 8, 1922.

Second landmark: The pagoda styled restrooms 

Just in front of the coliseum there was a small building shaped like an oriental Pagoda, with three levels, and square windows in the second level; this building was a restroom, as you can see in the left photo featured in the mentioned book.

Third landmark: The pagoda styled post office 

Between the trees in the 1922 IBSA Convention photo we can see another pagoda shaped structure, this time it is the post office. This building is still standing today, but it has been recyled as the main gift shop.

Fourth landmark: The Crystal Rock Castle 

In the 1922 Convention photo closeup, you can clearly see one wall of this building, with two arcs at the bottom, and a watchtower and battlements at the top. This building is the Crystal Rock Castle, built in 1904. It was closed to the public in the 50s and later demolished when the current main midway was constructed.

These four landmarks are visible in the next aerial view from 1950. I’ve added the location of the IBSA crowd when the 1922 photograph was taken:

Today, only two of these buildings are still standing, as you can see in the photo below 

In this 2018 photo you can see the pagoda gift shop and the coliseum in the background with its peculiar domes still visible. (Photo: themerica.org)

And finally, here is a current satellite photograph from Google, to which I have overlaid two maps from Francis’ book to show the locations of the different landmarks. This will allow us to locate the exact spot where the crowd and the photographer were standing when the famous panoramic photo was taken back in 1922.

The same photo without the map overlay: 

As shown in this example, looking closely at the details in photos can give key information. When that information is combined with some research sometimes we can reach interesting and new conclusions. These can give color and life to a story and set the scene for important events of the past.

Married by Judge Rutherford

2022 marks the centenary of the famous 1922 Cedar Point, Ohio, convention in Watch Tower history. For one couple it would have been an extra special memory – it was where they got married.

Below is a page about the convention from the Sanddusky Star-Journal for Sepember 8, 1922.

Homing in on the article we can see that at least one wedding was planned for the event, with Judge Rutherford billed as officiating at the ceremony.

 The groom was Harry Charles Rouse (1891-1940). Harry was born in the Greater London area in the UK. At the age of 18 in 1909 he signed up for the Territorial Army in Britain, but it appears that in that same year he went to the United States. The 1930 census gives 1909 as the date for his arrival in America. At some point thereafter he became a Bible Student, because when he was called up for American military service on June 5, 1917, he claimed exemption on the grounds that he was a member of the International Bible Students Association.

The bride was Marjorie L Roe, who was born in America from Irish parents in 1894. We don’t know when she passed away, but she was still alive when her one daughter got married in 1951.

So Charles and Marjorie were married at the Cedar Point, Ohio, convention and the newspaper noted that Judge Rutherford officiated. However it also noted that for legal reasons of residency the civil ceremony had to take place elsewhere. This is why the official marriage registers show this was taken care of by a Justice of the Peace.

Harry and Marjorie were to have one child, a daughter, Marjorie Arlene Rouse (1928-2002). Marjorie Arlene was to marry a George Pratt Bray in 1951.

We do not know if Harry and Marjorie stayed as Bible Students. In the 1940 census, shortly before he died, Harry’s occupation is given as a masseur for the YMCA. When the daughter married in 1951 it was in a conventional church.

With thanks to Tom who sent the newspaper and started the trail.