Cape had Chautauqua from 1905 to 1924

This year's Chautauqua week won't be the first time Cape Girardeau has seen the event.

In the Chautauqua's heyday from the late 19th century to the early 1930s the city played host to a yearly Chautauqua festival.

At that time Chautauqua was different than it is now, said Dr. Frank Nickell, director of the Center for Regional History at Southeast Missouri State University.

"At that time period, Chautauqua was extremely popular and appeared all across the country in many small, rural towns where people didn't have access to many cultural activities," Nickell said.

The annual Chautauqua started in Cape Girardeau in 1907 and included the highlight of moving pictures on its second evening. The Daily Republic newspaper reported that between 2,000 and 3,000 people showed up for the first night of the first Chautauqua at time when Nickell said Cape Girardeau's population was around 5,000 or less.

"It was like a Saturday afternoon in a big college football town," Nickell said. "People would just come in from all around and celebrate with food and visit. It was really a special and rare opportunity."

In 1922, that rare opportunity came in the form of featured speaker William Jennings Bryan, who talked about politics and religion and was late in arriving for his speech.

Jackson also hosted Chautauqua. There, a storm ripped apart the Chautauqua tent in July 1919, hurting an entertainer.

The last Chautauqua was held in Cape Girardeau in 1924, said local Chautauqua committee chair Dr. Joel Rhodes.

That same year was when Chautauqua reached its height of popularity nationwide, visiting 12,000 towns with an audience of 32 million people.

-- Matt Sanders