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The Jasper Douthit Project
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| Welcome to the Jasper
Douthit Project. Douthit was a Unitarian minister in Shelbyville,
Illinois. That is his church on the left. To the right is Douthit's home where numerous cultural reformers, suffragettes, writers, orators, inventors ate at the Douthits' humble table alongside local residents. Many of them came to enjoy the annual chautauqua at Lithia Springs, acres of private property Douthit inherited. After Jasper died, his daughter Winifred remained in the family home. Winifred, who never married, turned the home into a boarding house. Along the way, the Douthit family published a newspaper for several decades, printed a small selection of books and sold books, magazines and pamphlets. The church closed after Winifred's death, following years of visiting pastors filling the pulpit. Eventually the church building was destroyed. All that remains is a step leading from the sidewalk to a vacant lot. There is no marker. Today the parsonage is still home to numerous residents. It is now an apartment house. Lithia Springs is now part of the Lake Shelbyville Recreation Area. Mention chautauqua in Shelbyville, and most people think of the lovely white building in Forest Park. Douthit's chautauqa had been operating successfully for years before the city residents opened a competing venture and allowed alcohol, which Douthit absolutely forbade. The Lithia Springs Chautauqua was a haven for temperance workers, social reformers and suffragettes. The Lithia Springs buildings are long gone. Douthit's chautauqua has nearly vanished from history. What does remain are his words. Decades of newspapers have survived without notice. "Our Best Words" has been overlooked by archivists. The Jasper Douthit Project is dedicated to preserving the works and words of Jasper L. Douthit and those who knew him best. |
The
Jasper Douthit Project is an independent project not affiliated with or
endorsed by any other entity.
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