They featured small plays, poetry reading, some religion, but they weren't primarily focused on religion.
It was where people in small towns got their culture. These were social event
for small town America. They were a serious affair, usually held in tents in the summertime and over a 2 or 3 day period.
Chautauqua was a traveling entertainment/cultural
presentation that came to small towns in the Midwest from about the 1880s to the
1920s, maybe even later. There were many Chautauqua companies but the first started
in the small town of Chautauqua, New York in upstate New York.
1917 Mt. Carroll
Mt. Carroll Circus 1876 - Contributed by John Sharp
