9. Chautauqua reached its peak in the early 1920s
Chautauqua is more a movement than a single destination, though it enjoyed enormous popularity in 1921. The first Chautauqua site, organized in 1874 on the shores of New York’s Lake Chautauqua, offered an educational summer camp for families. It became known as the Mother Chautauqua. Its popularity led to the establishment of “Daughter Chautauqua’s” in communities throughout the United States. Finally, traveling Chautauqua’s were established. They traveled a prescheduled route, usually in smaller towns, and remained open for several days before moving on to another community. All offered lectures, speeches, entertainment, and other forms of diversion for participants.
Whether one traveled to a Chautauqua or attended one which came to their town, they proved highly popular during the summer of 1921. Often they were held near a body of water a la the Mother Chautauqua, which offered swimming, boating, and fishing to the attendees. Theodore Roosevelt called the Chautauqua movement both healthful and praiseworthy, stating it was “the most American thing in America”. Driven largely by the Populist Movement which arose around the turn of the 20th century, by the end of the 1920s it largely died out. Chautauqua enjoyed a brief resurgence during the Great Depression, though it never again reached the level of popularity of the 1920s.