Keokuk, Iowa
Keokuk is a city in the U.S. state of Iowa which serves as the county seat of Lee County. It is notable from a Bahá'í perspective for being the first city in Iowa to have an organized Bahá'í community.
History[edit]
There were Bahá'ís resident in Keokuk by the early 1910's, and a Bahá'í 'Assembly' (which was not equivalent to a modern Local Spiritual Assembly) sent a delegate to the 1914 election of the Bahá’í Temple Unity.[1]
As the Administrative Order began to develop the Bahá’í presence in Keokuk was not large enough to establish a Local Spiritual Assembly, and they instead organized as a Bahá’í group which had an official correspondent by 1928.[2] Keith Ransom-Kehler visited the Keokuk Bahá’ís in November 1929.[3]
In 1947 a copy of Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era was donated to Keokuk's library.[4] In 1967 the chair of the Keokuk Bahá’í group presented two Bahá’í books to the Keokuk Library.[5]
According to the Association of Religion Data Archives the Bahá’í community of Lee County had an estimated size of just eight members as of 2000 and 2010.[6]
References[edit]
- ↑ Star of the West 5(10), p 3
- ↑ Bahá’í World, Vol. 2, p 186
- ↑ Baha'i News Letter (1930). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 40, Pg(s) 12. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1947). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States and Canada. No 192, Pg(s) 11. View as PDF.
- ↑ Baha'i News (1967). National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States. No 436, Pg(s) 24. View as PDF.
- ↑ http://www.thearda.com/ql2010/QL_C_2000_2_994p.asp
