ABSTRACT
By 1922, Oakland was a rapidly maturing metropolis on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay. The city was the West Coast terminus for three transcontinental rail lines, where goods from the rural hinterland were shipped in and processed. A newspaper reporter for the Oakland Tribune described Aimee Semple McPhersons standard demeanor and perceived image among the crowds accompanying her early meeting. Again in Oakland, as it had been in Denver, Wichita, and elsewhere, Aimee's real source of support was derived from the laity. The chairperson of the Oakland committee was an active Christian layperson as well as a medical doctor. At the end of the meeting an exuberant Aimee bid farewell, too, to the twelve thousand or so enveloping the tent tabernacle. She had successfully completed her sixth revival in Northern California in less than a years time and launched a new religious organization, the Pacific Coast Foursquare Gospel Association.
