Û Chautauqua

Chautauqua Assemblies were popular throughout rural America until the mid-1920s. They brought entertainment and culture for the whole community, with speakers, teachers, musicians, entertainers, preachers and specialists of the day. Theodore Roosevelt said Chautauqua is "the most American thing in America." The program shown here was originally mailed to D. R. Streeter in Fairview township for the July 31 to August 4, 1921, Chautauqua.

 An Anamosa citizen was a prominent Chautauqua lecturer in the 1920s. After retiring from farming, William E. Daly served on the Chautauqua circuit in the western states, speaking on cooperation between farmers and city dwellers. As his obituary in The Anamosa Journal stated: his talks were presented with "an unequaled felicity of expression, interspersed with wit and humor."

Will Daly was born in 1873, the son of an Irish immigrant, Philip Daly, and of Catherine Foley. He died in 1936, and is buried at Holy Cross cemetery, Anamosa. He deeded land that is part of Wapsipinicon Park. His great-nephews, James and Michael Langer today run the Daly Creek Winery and Bistro in Anamosa. Mary Kay Kuhfittig