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In addition to receiving 26 issues of The Independent Kansas City’s Journal of Society, your subscription will include our annual publication, the Charitable Events Calendar and a subscription to our e-newsletter, The Insider.

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I Wonder… A Brief History

According to our records – the first “I Wonder” appeared in the November 17, 1928 issue.


Three questions were posed:

I Wonder – If Rogers Crittenden doesn’t grow tired of being called the “model young man”? 

I Wonder – If Oliver Thornton still plans to be a college professor?

I Wonder – Who John Barrett’s tailor is? 


The following week, there were five more with more mystery to them:

I Wonder – If that handsome bachelor still owns more silk shirts than a Chinese Mandarin?

I Wonder – Who that stunning girl was all in black at “the Club” Saturday night?

I Wonder – If the lovely lady who used to write us such newsy bits has stopped, although she never said anything that was not complimentary. 

I Wonder – If the prominent professional man still cannot work without a large box of candy on his desk?

I Wonder – Why a certain blonde debutante goes in so heavily for extremely swarthy foreigners?


Nearly 90 years later the “I Wonder” remains a breezy way of drawing attention to small points – and allowing the reader to draw his (or her) own conclusions. The themes of couples’ courtships, cute offspring, party antics, and anything else that might bring a chuckle (or, on occasion, raise an eyebrow), remain constant. How long can the I Wonder endure? As long as human nature is what it is, we suppose.