Baháʼí Faith in the United States
The Baháʼí Faith was first mentioned in the United States in 1893 at the World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. Soon after, early American converts began embracing the new religion. Thornton Chase was the most prominent among the first American Baha'is and made important contributions to early activities. One of the first Baháʼí institutions in the U.S. was established in Chicago and called the Baháʼí Temple Unity, incorporated in 1909 to facilitate the establishment of the first Baháʼí House of Worship in the West, which was eventually built in Wilmette, Illinois and dedicated in 1953. As of 2020 the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies noted the Baháʼí Faith was the largest non-Christian religion in the majority of US counties.
Baháʼí House of Worship, Wilmette, Illinois
The Inn at Green Acre, in Eliot, Maine
Plaque commemorating ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's visit to Cleveland in 1912.
Green Acre Baháʼí School is a conference facility in Eliot, Maine, in the United States, and is one of three leading institutions owned by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baháʼís of the United States. The name of the site has had various versions of "Green Acre" since before its founding in 1894 by Sarah Jane Farmer.
The Inn at Green Acre, in Eliot, Maine
Vivekananda at Greenacre (August 1894)
Swami Vivekananda and Sarah Farmer at Green Acre (August 1894)
Sarah J. Farmer, published in the New York Times, Sept. 19, 1897