Culver Assembly Index  

1887 - Henry H. Culver decided to open a Chautauqua camp similar to the one operated by the Methodist Church in New York State.

It is said that Mr. Culver was interviewed ten years later and to use Mr. Culver's own language:

"I spent the whole summer, by the side of the lake. I fished nearly all the day, and lived in a tent. When fall came I was a different man, It had such a glorious effect on my health that I determined to acquire property here. I bought ninety-eight acres on the northeast corner of the lake. The following year I bought 208 acres at the north end of the lake. A good deal of this land was low and damp. I employed a number of men to ditch and drain it, and before it was done I had put twenty-two miles of drain pipe in the 300 acres. It reclaimed the land and I started to have it farmed. On a part I raised corn, and part of it I devoted to meadow for hay. In 1889 I built a tabernacle, a hotel, and some cottages , and arranged for a big series of religious meetings. I secured T. DeWitt Talmage, of New York; Rev. Sam Jones, of Georgia, and Dr. John Matthews, of St. Louis, and had great crowds to hear them. I had revival meetings and lectures for the whole of that summer, but since that time there have been no public meetings of any consequence."

He built a three story hotel, tabernacle of 5,400 square feet [where the Main Barracks sat], and several cottages and there was also tenting place.

2003 map, Main #2; mess hall #10 #1 Eat & West Barracka

1889 - Apr. 25 - The tabernacle to be constructed by Mr. Culver at Lake Maxinkuckee this summer will cost about $3,000. The contract has been let to Plymouth parties, and when completed it will be utulized by Dr. Talmage, and the two Sams, Small and Jones, the latter having been engaged for several weeks. It is the intention of Mr. Culver, if possible to make the lake more popular than ever as a summer resort. - Argos Relfector

In July 1889 it was directed by Ben Deering and attracted more than 20,000 visitors and opened for business in the summer of 1889.

It was known as the Culver Park Assembly on the Aubeenaubee Bay.

1890 - Jul 22 - Arragemenrts have been made for a meeting at Culver Park Assembly, Lake Maxinkuckee, beginning August 1st and continuing three days. The first day will be devoted to temperance, unde the auspices of the W C. T. U. The second day will be devoted to Sunday S chool work, and will be conducted by the Marshall County Sunday schoool union. The program for Sunday, the thrid and last day will consist of devotional exercises - Logansport Reporter.

After two money-losing seasons, he closed it down after the 1890 summer season.

Culver Park Assembly Hotel

Culver Park Assembly Tabernacle - This 5,400 square foot building served as the Tabernacle for the ill-fated Chautauqua. It became the first gymnasium in 1894 for Culver Military Academy and after a new gymnasium was built in 1902, it was converted into a new Mess Hall. In 1912, it was moved to the northeast and used for storage. It burned in 1915.

Culver Park Assembly - 1889 May 23

Newspaper Articles

Assembly Bulletin 1889

Culver Assembly Bulletin Recalls Ancient History

After the Chautauqua failed Mr. Culver offered it to the citizens of Marshall county, an indefinite leasehold on thirty or forty acres of land to be used for the purpose of holding an annual fair. He graded and laid off a half-mile track, planted trees, and largely assisted in erecting a grand stand and necessary buildings, besides the buildings that remained from the Chautauqua camp. So for a brief while the area was used as a fairground for Union Township being leased in 1889 to the 'Maxinkuckee Fair Association and it opened in 1891. The fair was discontinued in 1895 because but it too also proved not to be a profitable venture; the Agriculture 1895 fair booklet bears many ads and pictures. It was a venture that lasted all of two years, doubtless because of the location so far from the center of the county, this enterprise was gradually abandoned, and finally the land reverted to the estate, after the failure to hold a meeting for three years.

1893 - Culver Dream Sitting on a large rock on Maxinkuckee's north shore in 1893, Henry Harrison Culver made a decision. There the St. Louis stove manufacturer decided that he would build the school which he had planned since childhood, which would offer an outstanding education to boys high school age, instilling in them not only knowledge but also, a hot only knowledge but also an appreciation of their individual destinies, and by friendly military discipline developing their pride, purpose and dedication - Culver Military Academy. From Founder's Rock he watched construction, of the first building.