Camp Meetings and Revivals

Religious camp meetings held in the summer time in early Decatur and neighboring communities were the big social and evangelistic events of the year. Here, old friends met, old acquaintances were renewed, and new friendships formed. Families packed their wagons with cooking and sleeping equipment, donned their best clothes, and came to a camping area to spend several days to a week together.

Camp sites located where there was plenty of shade, good water, grass, and adequate drainage. After the site was chosen, the brush and weeds were cleared away, a speaker stand was erected, seats were made, and shacks and tents were erected. If tenting was not available, an arbor of twigs and branches was built to protect the worshippers from the rain and the hot sun. Around the evening camp fires men talked about their crops, community development, and political news. Women brought their fancy work, taught each other new stitches and designs, worked on patch quilts, exchanged flower and garden seeds and the years accumulated news.

Prayer meetings were held before breakfast, then preaching from ten until twelve, and again preaching in the afternoon. The night meetings were the largest service of the day when townspeople came out from their daily labors. Preachers denounced sin and wickedness in no uncertain terms, giving vivid and forceful descriptions of eternal hell and damnation. Worshippers experienced the emotions of repentance, sorrow, joy and anguish with prayers, songs, and shouting.

The last big camp in Macon County was the Oakland Park camp where Millikin University now stands. This park, sponsored by the Citizen's Street Railway Company, later became the site of the first Chautauqa and the largest camp meeting ever held in this part of the country. The railway company built a horse-drawn car line out West Main Street to the Wabash tracks which provided transportation for thousands who came to the meetings.

A canvas pavilion was erected which could seat 8,000 people and a large dining room where 500 could be fed. One meeting experienced an attendance of 30,000. Camp meetings lasted ten days while music, preaching, lectures, and educational features made up the programs.

Edith Brockway

Through the years, revivals have contributed much to the growth of the churches of Decatur. Frequently they were referred to as "protracted meetings," which was exactly what they were for some of them lasted several weeks. Sometimes the nightly preaching was done by local pastors, but often guest evangelists and singers furnished the leadership. In times when social and community activities were limited, these revivals were largely attended, and were the means whereby many were brought into church membership.

An extended revival on a communitywide basis was held in 1885 in Decatur. The evangelist was Thomas Harrison, billed as "The Boy Preacher." He carried on Thanksgiving Day to Easter-21 weeks-and 2,000 were converted. As a result of this, for example, 400 united with the First Methodist Church. Many other congregations had impressive additions of members as a result of the revival.

One of the most notable meetings of this kind was held in Decatur in 1908. This was a city-wide effort held in a temporary tabernacle erected at the corner of Union and West Eldorado Streets, with the Reverend William A. "Billy" Sunday as evangelist. He was one of the most noted revivalists of his time and gained fame for his all-out fiery attack against sin and his acrobatic, rapid-fire method of preaching. The Decatur Herald for February 9, 1908 carried a front page spread of his sermon, with a picture of Sunday in a white suit and big heading "Sunday Pounds Still Harder." The sub-title read, "Live Your Religion, Pray, Vote, Be Honest, Give Your Wife Flowers Now." Rev. Sunday would return to Decatur in 1910 in connection with the "Keep Decatur Dry" campaign. [Banton]

Many churches continued to hold revivals on a more or less annual basis. In the early 1970's the Jesus People, with a small but dedicated group of followers and led by Rev. Bill Lowry, visited Decatur on several occasions.

O.T. Banton
History of Macon County, Illinois
Macon County Historical Society

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