Coming tonight, July 11, to Roosevelt Park in Devils Lake at 6 p.m. is the Chautauqua Olde Tyme Family Picnic, currently all that remains of a grand summer gathering called Chautauqua that began in the late 1800s.
President Theodore Roosevelt once said about Chautauqua, “It is the most American thing in America.” He was speaking about the Chautauqua movement that began humbly as a way to prepare Sunday School teachers and educators in a summer retreat in 1874. It grew in popularity and scope through the years to where adults could hear presented the latest thinking in politics, economics, literature, science and religion.
This was long, long before television or the Internet.
Soon each state had its own official Chautauqua site like that of the first on the shores of Chautauqua Lake in upstate New York. Devils Lake was the official site for North Dakota. At one time, the Devils Lake Chautauqua was the third largest in the nation. People came from miles around first camping in tents and later building small cottages. A few of those cottages can still be seen today in Lakewood, a bedroom community six miles south of Devils Lake.
The Chautauqua grounds were laid out in the form of a park, centered by the huge Grand Auditorium built in 1900 to seat over 4,000 people. World renowned speakers and lecturers came to Devils Lake’s Chautauqua. It boasted its own railroad that made the 6.5 miles into Devils Lake in just 13.5 minutes! Two steamboats, the “Minnie H” and the “Rock Island” made special trips daily from Fort Totten to Chautauqua. Whole days were dedicated to communities represented at the Devils Lake Chautauqua – there was a “Grand Forks Day” to celebrate all the Chautauqua goers from Grand Forks, for example, and so on. On the Chautauqua grounds there were stores, restaurants, hotels, roller rinks, a swimming pool, dance pavilion and a zoo.
Chautauqua maintained a high degree of religion and patriotism as its assemblies were scheduled around the nation’s birthday, July 4, each year.
Steadily receding waters of Devils Lake forced the steam boats into dry dock by 1908 and the railroad went to the scrap heap in 1917 because of financial difficulties. Programs continued successfully until 1929.
It was revived in 1976 to commemorate the nation’s bicentennial projects in North Dakota and was recognized as one of the top three outstanding bicentennial projects in ND by the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Recently interest in and attendance at Chautauqua events has faded, but it is revived each July in Roosevelt Park to celebrate and honor the community’s Unsung Heroes.
The spirit of Chautaqua lives on here in the Lake Region although the 4,000 seat auditorium, grand hotel, private railroad and official Chautauqua grounds no longer exist. You will find it every Tuesday evening of the summer in Roosevelt Park in Devils Lake at the Arts in the Park and at the Chautauqua Olde Tyme Family Picnic, July 11, 2023 at 6 p.m.
This year a number of people from the community are bringing more into the experience with art displays from local artists, music from a string quartet as well as the Devils Lake Elks Community Band and a preview of the Fort Totten Little Theater’s production of “Footloose.”
All Unsung Heroes will be recognized and provided a free picnic meal courtesy of Devils Lake Cars and First United Bank – the sponsors of the Unsung Hero awards. Guests may also enjoy the meal for a $10 fee. Everyone is welcome to attend and enjoy the fresh air, the music, art and the Spirit of Chautauqua as it visits us once again! There is no charge to attend, only the meal is a fundraiser for the United Methodist Church of Devils Lake. It was their denomination that founded Chautauqua in the first place and has shared it with all of us all these years.
