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GERMAN SETTLERS MADE IMPACT ON MEMPHIS
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tennessee)
Thursday, November 12, 1992
Author: Perre Magness
In the 1850s, after the revolutions of 1848 in Europe, the United States saw an influx of German immigrants. In Tennessee, town names such as Wartburg, Hohenwald and Gruetli testified to German founders. By the eve of the Civil War, there were 1,412 Germans out of a population of 22,623 in Memphis. According to Gerald Capers in The
Biography of A River Town, although the Germans were only one-third as numerous as the Irish, they figured more prominently in economic and social life and were responsible for much of the cultural life. By 1870, there were 5,325 people of German birth in Memphis. Even before the great influx of Germans, a German already had played a prominent role in Memphis. William Spickernagle was mayor of Memphis for one year beginning in March 1841, the first year the mayor was paid. Under his administration, the city attempted to collect harbor fees from the flatboatmen who tied up below the bluff. As Germans began to arrive in Memphis in greater numbers, they formed social and civic organizations. In 1852, German Catholics who were members of predominantly Irish St. Peter's Church organized the Society of St. Boniface; by 1862 this became St. Mary's Catholic Church. In 1855, Pastor John Beyer arrived on a steamboat from St. Louis to establish a German Protestant congregation with 74 members. The first services were held in the Presbyterian Church, and in 1871 a lot on Washington Avenue was purchased for Trinity Lutheran Church. Services were conducted in German until the start of World War I. The Germans were hardworking: The German National Bank in 1866 and the German Savings Institution the next year were signs of their thrift. Many were excellent craftsmen, employed in such trades as watchmaking, metalcraft and tailoring. Henry Seessel came from Speyer on the Rhine and opened a butcher shop in 1858. Bernard Lowenstein founded his dry goods store in 1861. Isaac and Jacob Goldsmith arrived from Baden in 1867 to work in their uncle's store on Main Street. Schumacher's was a fine restaurant on Front Street. Adolf Luerhmann ran a famous hotel. His daughter Adele graduated from Vassar and became a Shakespearean actress. John Schorr came from Germany via St. Louis, arriving in 1885 to found the Tennessee Brewery on the south bluff. There were several German-language newspapers published in Memphis: Die Stimme des Volks (Voice of the People), a weekly edited by August Kattmann from 1854 to 1862; Der Anzeiger des Sudens (Southern Advertiser), founded by Louis Wunderman in 1858, which lasted 20 years; and Die Neue Zeit (The New Era), edited by P. Walser during the Union occupation in the Civil War. The Germans organized their own militia companies. The Washington Riflemen was organized in 1853 under Captain F. Ringwald. In 1858, the Steuben Artillery organized, with four fine brass cannons given by the city and state, and later went into the Confederate Army. But there were Union supporters, too: A militia unit called the Home Guards was captained by David C. Lowenstine during the occupation. There were many German clubs. The German Philanthropic Association for the Support of the Sick and Destitute was organized in 1846. The Swiss-Germans had the Gruetli Verein. Paul Coppock, in Memphis
Sketches, lists four other German organizations in 1885: the Deutscher Bruderband at 34 Adams, the German Casion at 275 Main, the Schuetzen Verein at 195 Second, and The Germana Turn Verein at 205 Main, where gymnastics were taught Tuesdays and Fridays, and fencing on Wednesdays and Sundays. The Germania Club at 188 Jefferson had a large ballroom that was the site of many festivities. The club took on a modern tone in the 1950s with the addition of 60 German war brides. But the greatest German influence was in cultural and musical circles. In 1850, there was a musical society called the Liedercrantz. In 1859, The Appeal said the Germans were making "liberal arrangements for the celebration of the centennial of the great poet Frederick Von Schiller." In 1861, The Appeal reported a Mr. Boetner, formerly of the German Theater, keeping a public house on Poplar. In 1870, a German concert was held at the Greenlaw Opera House with the proceeds going to the support of wounded Prussian soldiers. Germans were among the founders of the Memphis Philharmonic Orchestra, which lasted until about 1881. The Maennerchor, a choral society, gave concerts of Bach and Hadyn and Schubert. According to Capers, many Germans left Memphis during the yellow fever epidemics of the 1870s and never returned. Their departure caused great disruption to culture and music in Memphis. But the Germans who remained continued to celebrate their heritage. Memphians went to a suburban beer garden to enjoy schmierkase, "a delicious preparation of curds and cream made only by our German citizens," said the Appeal. From 1860 on, the German community celebrated Mai Feste with parades and picnics and feasting on weinerwurst, roggenbrot, sauerkraut and, of course, beer. In 1874, floats led the 14th annual Mai Feste parade down Main Street with Louise Kummerich as queen. In 1887, a picnic at Estival Park topped the festivities, and Lillie Tanner, accompanied by a mounted honor guard, led a grand parade from Germania Hall to East End Park. The Mai Feste lasted until 1909. Anna Kummerer was the last queen.
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