After reading this interesting thread, last night I happened onto an article in the April 2002 "Quilter's Newsletter Magazine." The article featured "The Detroit News" and their Quilt Club Corner column in the 1930's. The column printed correspondence from club members, and they also sold and distributed quilt patterns (similar to the Kansas City Star).
The newspaper sponsored a quilt contest show in Detroit I believe annually in the mid and late 1930's. The article I read had a reprint of a quilt contest announcement. There were only 5 categories, and 2 of them were for tops!
I find quilting history to be so very interesting!