Historical Marker · No. 839
Chautauqua Hall
Pacific Grove, Monterey County · California
Erected by State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the City of Pacific Grove, 1970
Methodist ministers founded the Pacific Grove Retreat in 1875 as a summer camp for religious study, and by 1879 it had taken up the Chautauqua program of lectures, music and classes that began at Lake Chautauqua in New York. The Pacific Improvement Company built this board-and-batten hall for the retreat in 1881. In summer it held lectures and Sunday school. Out of season it stored the tents the visitors had slept in. The city bought the hall in 1922, and it was added to the National Register in January 2026.
What the plaque says
Chautauqua Hall The first Chautauqua in the West. Organized at Pacific Grove in June, 1879, for the presentation of "moral attractions" and "the highest grade of concerts and entertainments," known worldwide as "Chautauqua-by-the-Sea," it made Pacific Grove an unequalled cultural center. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 839 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the City of Pacific Grove, July 20, 1970.
Where it stands
36.62204, -121.91803 · Directions
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