Today, we take a nostalgic look back a hundred years to the May 1919 issue of Talking Machine World, which was itself taking a nostalgic look back 23 years to 1896.

The magazine reproduced this poster advertising a “concert” at the Methodist Church in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. The benefit event (with admission of either 10 or 20 cents) featured Edison’s Most Wonderful Invention, namely the phonograph. The poster pointed out that the device would reproduce “the human voice, bands, whistling, etc., etc.” And this was not some puny device that could be heard only through an ear tube. The phonograph was one which could be heard by hundreds at the same time. The concert included a recording of the chimes “by the Bells in St. John’s Cathedral,” although it’s not clear which church of that name is being referenced.

The concert was to take place at 7:30 on February 14, 1896.  The current United Methodist Church of Chagrin Falls traces its roots back to the 1830s, and reports that it built on its current site in 1884.  So it appears that the concert took place at that church’s current location of 20 S. Franklin St.

At the beginning of the 20th century, phonographs rapidly became common.  Even before most people owned one, they had an opportunity to listen.  But in 1896, the instrument was still quite a novelty, and it’s likely that most Americans had never heard one.  So it was probably well worth a dime or two to go listen to a concert featuring the greatest invention of the century.