Culture Under the Canvas
Traveling Chautauqua programs were a popular form of summer entertainment in Johnson County during the 1920s and 1920s. These shows featured inspirational and educational lectures, music, dance, and dramatic presentations. Chautauqua programs were also major social events, attracting local and area residents for the week-long shows.
The first Chautauqua was held in 1874 at Lake Chautauqua, New York. Two Methodist Church leaders organized the event as a summer school for Sunday School teachers. Gradually, the lecture programs added entertainment and the movement caught on across the country. By the late 1920s, Chautauquas reached an estimated 30 million Americans in 12,000 towns. Chautauquas traveled to cities and towns of all sizes — providing the same cultural experience at each location. The large brown tents were usually set up in a wooded area or grove, providing a relaxed setting for the performances and lectures.
Olathe’s first Chautauqua was held in July 1910. The Olathe Mirror announced the nine-day event, highlighting the speakers and a suffrage debate. Other summer entertainment that year included picnics, baseball games, a circus, and the Old Settler's Festival. At least 300 people from Gardner attended the Chautauqua in 1912. The Mirror reported that “at least one-third of this number came in automobiles and the rest drove over in buggies or came on the train.” in 1914, the Chautauqua brought to town the Chicago Operatic Company, dramatist Helena Rhoda Hoops, and Dr. Fred Cook, discoverer of the North Pole. Visitors enjoyed picnic suppers on the grounds between performances.
Kansas City and Olathe served as the headquarters and warehouse for one of the largest Chautauqua the Redpath-Horner Chautauqua. Charles Horner managed the circuit from Kansas City; tents were manufactured and stored in Olathe. Horner promoted a “premiere Program” for the 1925 Chautauqua. Advertisements called this show “the best on the circuit of more than 90 towns.” Much was made of Mabel Day’s appearance in the play “Forty-Five Minutes to Broadway.” Ms. Day was a well-known operatic star and indicated “the care with which the Chautauqua Co. has taken with the selection of their cast.”
Chautauquas remained popular until the Depression, the automobile, and the silver screen brought about their decline during the 1930s and 1940s.
--ALBUM vol. 9, no. 3 (summer 1996)