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There are many great conveniences to modern day life, but one we all might take for granted is just how easy it is to find entertainment here in rural areas. Today if you want to listen to some music, you can just bring it up on YouTube or Spotify and listen whenever you want. If you want an informative story or lecture you can just type a topic into Google and find an article or video in seconds. Back in the early 1900s this was very, very different. If you wanted to listen to music, you had to play it yourself or buy an expensive phonograph machine. If you wanted to learn about a topic, you had to find a book on it or hope that the local newspaper published an article on it. Even though the early 1900s are only a few generations in the past, the difference in access to music and information is staggering. This limited supply is one of the main reasons the Chautauqua entertainers became so popular during their time.
The Chautauqua (pronounced Shah-taw-kwah) was an adult education and social movement that traveled around the US in the late 1800s through the early 1900s. The group toured around the rural US bringing entertainment and culture to areas of the country that had limited access to music and lectures that city dwellers had in abundance. The name Chautauqua refers to Lake Chautauqua in New York, the location where a group of Sunday school teachers assembled in 1874 to trade information and tips on teaching. This event and the organization that came out of it would be the inspiration for many other Chautauqua groups who would make it their mission to bring culture and learning to rural America.
The first appearance of Chautauqua in Lac qui Parle came in 1912 when a Chautauqua group visited Dawson for six days in July that year. This came about after a heartfelt plea was published on the front page of the July 14, 1911, issue of the Dawson Sentinel. No name was written on the plea leaving editor Theodore Christianson as the primary suspect for author.
The 1912 exhibition featured musical performances from various bands, orchestras, choirs, and yodelers, talks from professors and philosophers, and the headline act; a lecture from Col. William Jennings Bryan, a three-time presidential nominee who was considered one of the greatest speakers of his time. The performances and lectures were attended by thousands making the Chautauqua appearance a great success.
The Chautauqua would return to Dawson almost every year for the next decade. They would also make appearances in Madison throughout the 1910s and 20s. Chautauqua exhibitions generally featured similar concerts and lectures to the 1912 shows, switching out the lecturers and performers yearly to keep the shows fresh and exciting. The Chautauqua would make many additions to their offerings including dramatic performances through plays and musicals, recreations of Native American life from members of the Ojibway tribe, and coverage of contemporary events such as a 1918 lecture from Belgian nurse Marie von Gastel who had a firsthand view to the suffering of World War I troops.
Chautauqua performers came from all over the world, but one musician didn’t have to travel far. During a 1915 exhibition in Big Stone, one of the alto singers was unable to perform one night so the Chicago based management looked to local singers to fill the spot. They would end up contacting Clara Throndrud, a Dawson High School graduate who was working as a singing teacher in Watertown at the time. Clara had enjoyed her visits to previous Chautauqua performances and gladly filled the role. Clara and her singing ability impressed management enough to earn a spot on the rest of the 1915 tour. She would spend the next couple years working as a travelling vaudeville performer and as a Chautauqua performer again for the 1918 season. After some time as a travelling musician, Clara would return to Lac qui Parle where she worked as a choir director and organist at Trinity Lutheran Church in Dawson and Our Savior’s Church of Baxter for many years.
The Chautauqua performances remained massively popular throughout the rest of the 1910s and 20s drawing millions of attendees from around 10,000 communities throughout the US; but as the economy sank from the Great Depression and the radio took over as the prime form of entertainment the desire for Chautauqua performances began to fall. The final local appearance of the Chautauqua would be a 1929 exhibition in Dawson. Despite the ultimate end of the Chautauqua, the program would end up being a great success. Many generations of Americans would look back at the Chautauqua as one of the highlights of rural life and a great source of entertainment and inspiration.
