Milestones Icon: Chautauqua

On July 4, 1898, more than 4,000 people gathered for the opening day of the Colorado Chautauqua in Boulder.

The Chautauqua movement was an artistic and educational development in the United States Orators, performers and educators traveled a national Chautauqua circuit of more than 12,000 sites, bringing lectures, performers, concerts, classes and exhibitions to people in small towns and cities.

“The citizens in Boulder were very supportive of bringing a Chautauqua here,´ said Susan Connelly, executive director. “I looked in old newspapers and read the civic initiatives. They voted on a bond issue to acquire the land and to build two critical…