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THE COLUMBUS GERMANS

By LA VERN J. RIPPLEY

Delegations of city planners from as far as Montreal in the East and

Honolulu in the West have studied the Columbus redevelopment of

"German Village." The reclaiming of property in German Village repre-

sents the largest private undertaking of its kind in the world. It is an

TYPICAL STREET SCENE IN GERMAN VILLAGE TODAY

attempt to preserve the architecture of some 1600 dwellings and the Old

World flavor of the once bustling center of a substantial German popu-

lation. Today the German Village Society has gained legal sanction with

a special commission whose stamp of approval, like that of the director

of construction in any German city today, must seal the plans before an

owner can alter or remove a single structure. The result is that businesses

look distinctly German; the Konditorei, Bäckerei, and Village Markt taste-

fully intrigue the customer while an Old World Bazaar houses varying

shops jutting off a pedestrian's roofed passageway. In the Cafe you can

have German Torten, breads and pretzels. Not least significant is a German

woodcarver's store in which all the wares are hand tooled by the father

while the mother sells the art pieces to appreciative gift-seekers.*

* The restoration plans were described in the publication of the National Trust for Historic

Preservation by Mrs. William A. Scheurer, "German Village, Columbus, Ohio," Historic Preservation

XVIII (1966) No. 2, 64-67. A recent article in the Travel Section of the New York Times praised

the Village both as one of the " handhomest neighborhoods" and "a tourist attraction." See Bill

Thomas, " Touch of Old Germany in the Middle of Ohio," New York Times, April 21, 1968.

[ 1 ]

The German flavor is neither accidental nor arbitrary. In the 1800's

German homes fronted on such streets as Jäger, Frankfurt, Reinhard and

Bismarck, while in 1967 pedestrians still stroll, and children still play on

Goethe Street and in Schiller Park. There the majestic statue of the

Park's namesake was erected on July 4, 1891, five years after the German

societies offered the idea and helped deliver the funds to have the big

bronze sculpture cast in Munich. Dedication ceremonies brought out

nearly 50,000 people in an impressive parade which displayed various

motifs celebrating the life and works of Friedrich Schiller. Addresses were

delivered by Henry Olnhausen, Governor James E. Campbell, Mayor

George Karb and others. The statue is a gift of the German-Americans

to the city of Columbus.¹ At present the "German Village" district is

tightly defined for legal control in hopes of preserving the historical

atmosphere. Once the German section was simply that territory where

Germans settled, according to an 1870 map of the city, the area south of

Main Street, bounded on the west by the Columbus Feeder Canal, and on

the east by 22nd Street.

Columbus started late, but as Capital City of Ohio it grew fast.

Selected purely on the basis of its central geographical location, Columbus

soon outstripped Cincinnati and Cleveland in importance, though not in

population. Overnight the town of Franklintown (west of the Scioto River)

burgeoned into the new city (east of the River) after the signing of an

agreement on February 19, 1812 which projected plans for making it the

permanent seat of the state government.² In the same year, two Germans

were among eighteen men who purchased property in the city's first

offering of lots.8 The one, Christian Heyl, first opened a bakery, later

served for ten years as Town Treasurer. Working as carpenters on the

first Statehouse in 1814 were Gottlieb Lichtenegger and Conrad Heyl.4

But despite these few smatterings, it appears that German immigration to

Columbus did not pick up until employment possibilities improved. As

foreigners, naturally, Germans were not immediately able to infiltrate

the ranks of government jobs. By 1831, however, coach service into

Columbus tallied thirty per week, permitting capital and personnel to flow

readily. In September of the same year, water was turned into the Feeder

Canal joining Columbus to the Ohio Canal which linked Cleveland with

1

Der Westbote, July 7, 1891. (Hereafter, Der Columbus Westbote will be referred to as WB

with the date.) The pedestal for the statue is granite, surmounted by the bronze statue. It was

transported across the Atlantic without charge by the North German Lloyd. ² Osman C. Hooper, History of the City of Columbus (Columbus,

ca. 1920), 27. The Bibliography

of German Culture in America to 1940 by Henry A. Pochmann and Arthur R. Schultz (Madison, Wis.,

1953) lists as item 2969, Express und Westbote, Der Anteil der Deutsch-Amerikaner an dem Wachstum

der Stadt Columbus und des Staates Ohios, Cleveland 1907. Professor Schultz stated in a letter to

the author that the entry refers to a pamphlet of thirty pages which he found in the catalog of the

New York Public Library. However, the staff of the New York Public Library has been unable to

discover the pamphlet nor any information about it. The Library of Congress reported that the item

was never listed in the National Union Catalog. A thorough page by page search of the Columbus

Express und Westbote in the archives of the Ohio Historical Society proved equally fruitless. Unless we

receive information from one of our readers we must assume that the pamphlet no longer exists. ³ William A. Taylor, Centennial History of

Columbus and Franklin County (Chicago-Columbus,

1909), 25. See also Christian Heyl, " Biographische Skizze eines alten Pioniers " Der Deutsche Pionier,

II (1870-1871), 130-186. 4 Alfred E. Lee, History of the City of Columbus (New York, 1892), I, 278-279. The Heyl family

arrived in Baltimore in 1800, moving later to Columbus. Other German settlers in the early period

were: David Deshler (later famous as founder of the great banking family in Columbus), in 1817, the

Boeder familv in 1820, John Otstot in 1824, George Kraus in 1829, the Studer, Knies, Hunt, Lichte-

negger and Eberly families in 1881, Peter Ambos, Benedict Ritter, Otto Zirkel, and the Krumm,

Jacobs and Reinhard families in 1832, the Lohrer, Zettler and Hinderer families, Louis Hoster and

Leonhard Beck in 1833, the Sieber and Erlenbusch families, Joseph Schneider, Henry Roedter, Fritz

Beck, Conrad Heinmiller and the Rickly and Esswein brothers in 1834. Lee reports that after the

opening of the Canal, the German immigrants landed by the boatloads. Some of them had the family

names: Moehl, Neufang, Machold, Zehnacker. Lauer, Moersch, Schultz, Schweinsberger, Jeuksch,

Schenck, Mayer, Silbernagel, Luckhaupt, Knopf, Briick, Lindemann, Burckhard, Kreitlein, Schreyer,

Becker, Engler, Weitgenannt, Koetz, Miller, Blenkner and Bicke. Lee cites his source in a footnote

that he found most of this information in a paper delivered in February 1889 before the Humboldt

Society by the Honorable Henry Olnhausen.

[ 2 ]

Portsmouth, Lake Erie with the Ohio River. As barges ascended to dis-

charge and receive freight, immigrants swelled the population of the Capital

City from 1,500 in 1827 to nearly 20,000 a short thirty years later.5

Exact information about the early influx of Germans is scarce, yet as

early as 1833, the first German newspaper began publication and shortly

thereafter, the first Columbus directory included a short historical sketch

stating simply that immigrants were pouring in from all quarters and that

business kept pace with the population* A later directory mentions that

in 1826 there was a German Lutheran meeting house, with about 1400

members.7

The German element contributed substantially to the city's growth.

The Southside, and more especially the fifth ward which was all but exclu-

sively German, kept pace with the rest of Columbus on building and popu-

lation expansion throughout the 19th century. In 1851 more houses were

built in the German districts than in any other part, and in 1852 more

than half the construction of all Columbus was done in the fifth ward.8

By 1853 it was estimated that Germans owned one third of all Columbus

property and were expanding into all parts of the city.9 Since many

sources are quick to repeat that the fifth ward was entirely German, the

fifth's population of 5,050 in 1852 could serve as a conservative estimate

of the city's German population at that time.10 The 1848 revolution and

economic depression in Germany caused emigration to double within six

years. Presumably German arrivals in Columbus reflected that increase.

Regardless of the conjecture in some statistical reports, one conclusion can

be supported from many compilations. The German population of Colum-

bus was for decades judged to be about one third of the whole.11

Prior to 1848, many of the Columbus Germans had come from the

Palatinate. For about ten years thereafter the mainspring was Baden,

after which the Palatinate again predominated.12 After 1854, the local

German editors were complaining that the movement westward from

Columbus was so great that the local German population diminished for

two years before picking up again in 1856.

To some extent, German families only filtered through the city on

their way west. California gold and the cheap lands of Wisconsin, Missouri

and Texas beckoned to the newcomers. On three different occasions, Ger-

mans, flushed with the fever for gold, mobilized for the stampede to Cali-

5

Hooper, 184.

6

J. P. Armstrong, Columbus Business Directory for 1843-44. 7 Lathrop's Columbus Directory (1862), Section I, Historical Sketch, x. 8WB.,

Sept. 17, 1852. 9WB., May 6, 1853. 10 See E. Glover, Columbus Directory for the Year 1852, 65. 11 See Margaret Sittler, " The German Element

in Columbus Before the Civil War" (unpubl.

M. A. Thesis, Ohio State Univ., 1932), 6.

See also the Census of the United States as shown in table. The table includes whites only.

Columbus

German born

Franklin County Columbus (incl. Austria

Pop. of Col. Foreign born For. born and Switzerland)

1840 6 048

1850 17,882 6,786

1860 18,554 9,229

1870 31,274 10,537 7,611 4,196

1880 51,647 11,821 9,071 4,416

1890 88,150 15,184 12,488 7,141

1900 125,560 14,669 12,328 6,780

1910 181,511 18,649 16,285 6,879

1920 237,031 18,177 16,050 5,165

1930 290,664 17.401 15,279 3,390

1940 806,087 13,830 11,927 3,117

1950 375,901 13,750 10,960 2,249

1960 471,816 14,895 11,052 listed as Ger.

Stock: 9,887

12

WB., Jan. 27, June 2, 1854; June 20, 1856.

[ 3 ]

fornia.13 Many of them did not wait for exclusively German companies

to form, joined instead whatever wagon train was heading west. After the

gold rush began, a standard greeting on the South Columbus Streets

became, "When are you leaving for California?"14 Perhaps the most

interesting mass movement of Germans westward from Columbus came

in 1856. At that time several German families purchased farms in Nebraska

and generated so much enthusiasm among their fellow Germans that an

expedition thirty-five strong set out for Omaha in April.15 By November,

friends in Columbus received word that the German emigrants had already

"betrayed their German Fatherland " in favor of their adopted Mother

City (Columbus), calling the new Nebraska settlement "New Co-

lumbus."16 As an obvious tribute to the parent city's German newspaper,

main street was called Westbotenstrasse.

There was probably a deeper reason for the appelation. Familiar names

make new places seem familiar and secure with the net result that a new

settlement attracts not only people but also capital. With this in mind,

the Northern Pacific Railroad named a city on its line Bismarck, North

Dakota, in hopes of luring German capital but got mostly settlers instead.17

The outcome for the Nebraska Germans was similar—there is no record

of capital, but they did manage to entice many German immigrants to

leave old Columbus. In the spring of 1857, John Rickly, a Swiss-German

(Rickli) led an expedition of sixty Germans from Columbus, Ohio to

New Columbus, Nebraska.18 The 1956 Centennial Booklet of Columbus,

Nebraska contains this historical sketch of its founding:

That was the birth of Columbus, Nebraska, so named because the majority of

the founders had come from Columbus, Ohio. These 13 men whom history will

always remember as the "farsighted and intrepid founders" of Columbus, Nebraska,

were: Jacob Louis, Frederick Gottschalk, Charles Reinke, Michael Smith, Jacob

Guter, John C. Wolfel, Vincent Kummer, Henry Lusche, Charles Bremer, John

Browner, J. Peter Becker, Anthony Voll and John Held.19

While the major exits from the city made the papers, the everyday

lives of those who remained in Ohio are less well chronicled. Mostly the

Germans were so taken for granted that historians failed to view the

German story separately from the city as a whole. Also, because of language

and tradition, the Germans made distinctive contributions only in their

numerous organizations. Since these clubs were exclusively German, they

functioned only for Germans at least in the beginning. Otherwise the

Germans were simply that fraction of the amorphous population in a

typical mid-western city which was much more interested in building for

its future, than in chronicling the past.

13

WB., Feb. 2, 1849; Dec. 2, 1851; Sept. 20, 1858. 14 WB., Feb. 2, 1849. 15WB., Mar. 7, 1856; Mar. 14, 1856; Apr.

25, 1856. 16WB., Nov. 28, 1856. 17Richard M. Lunde, "Why Bismarck?" The American-German Review, XXVII (1961), 28. 18WB., Apr.

24, 1857; Nov. 28, 1856; Mrs. John Wolfel is claimed as the first white woman

to spend the winter in Columbus, Nebraska. During the same winter, John Rickly was superintendent

of a sawmill there. On April 24, 1857, the WB reported that Rickly left Ohio with immigrants for

" unsere Namensschwester." 19 Margaret Curry, " Founding of Columbus," Columbus, Nebraska Centennial (Columbus, 1956), 9.

The booklet contains pictures of the thirteen original settlers including lists of later immigrants from

Ohio through 1859. The original group first scouted the territory, then returned to Omaha to found

the "Columbus Town Company." John Rickly is said to have joined the Town Company on July 26,

1856 to help plat the townsite. Evidently he returned to Ohio then to lead the larger expedition to

Nebraska. See p. 5.

[ 4 ]

I. THE GERMAN PRESS

In less than a century, Columbus witnessed the appearance of at least

thirty-eight German newspapers ranging in scope from conservative to

liberal, blantantly secular to piously religious, urban to rural, daily to

monthly, and in support of opposing philosophies and divergent theologies.¹

The first German-language paper was Der Emigrant edited and published

by George Kissling, begun in 1833 and discontinued within a year.² A

Whig campaign paper, the Ohio Staats-Zeitung und Volks-Advokat issued

in 1840 in support of Harrison and Tyler, was edited by John S. Wiestling.8

Much confusion surrounds the publication of Der Ohio Adler. Perhaps

the most reliable information is to be found in Friedrich Fieser's sketch

of his journalism career. Accordingly, Valentine Kastner had been pub-

lishing the Lancaster Volksjreund, sometimes called the Ohio Volksfreund

in Lancaster, Ohio. Fieser did some translating for Kastner and eventually

became editor of the paper. At that time, the Volksfreund was a small

weekly printed with the Pennsylvania-made old German type that had been

used for the Lancaster papers for several decades, and readers complained

about the quality of printing. Sometime during 1841 Kastner moved the

Volksfreund to Columbus and published it again under the name of Ohio

Adler, on better type than before, but, due to poor management the paper

soon folded.4

When the Adler failed, Jacob Reinhard, a German engineer on the

National Road leading to Springfield, went to Cincinnati in the summer

of 1842 to invite Friedrich Fieser, then editor of the Cincinnati Volksblatt,

to return to Columbus and join him in publishing the Columbus Westbote.

Fieser bought new type materials in Philadelphia and set up a shop on

East Main Street between High and Third where the first number of the

Westbote was issued on October 2, 1843. It continued until August 20,

1918 as the great stalwart of all German publications in Columbus, appear-

1

See Karl J. R. Arndt and May E. Olson, German-American Newspapers and Periodicals 1732-

19SS (Heidelberg 1961), 472-477. ² Both Lee, I, 440 and Hooper, 183 are in error when they state that Henry Roedter was the

editor of Der Emigrant. Only two copies of the paper exist and the name of the editor appears on

one as George Kissling, on the other as George Kessling. The editor's box gives the information

that it was published above the Post Office, opposite the public buildings on High Street. Likewise,

see Lucile Clifton, " Beginnings of Literary Culture in Columbus, 1812-1840 " (unpubl. diss. Ohio

State Univ., 1948), p. 45, who erroneously states that Bryan and Emrie were the publishers of

Der Emigrant. ³ Arndt-Olson, 476; Hooper, 183. The paper was discontinued after the election was over. See

also Alexander J. Schem, D'eutsch-Amerikanisches Conversations-Lexicon (New York, 1871), III, 852. 4 See Lee, I, 440, 471; Hooper, 183.

Arndt-Olson mention neither the Adler nor the Volksfreund

as Columbus papers. Carl Wittke, The German-Language Press in America (Lexington, Ky., 1957),

49-51, found evidence that the Adler was published in Lancaster, Ohio from 1807 until its sale in 1889

when the equipment was moved to Columbus and the paper was renamed. On the early history of

the Ohio Adler see Klaus Wust in Reports, Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland

XXXII (1966), 32-34. The Adler was not an immigrant newspaper but served the American-born,

German-speaking settlers who had poured into Ohio from the western parts of Virginia, Maryland

and Pennsylvania. It was Jeffersonian in politics and old-fashioned Pennsylvania-German in outlook

and language. According to Fieser's sketch, Kastner was the publisher of the new Columbus Adler

but he (Fieser) was the editor. " I even wrote a piece of poetry for the first number, in which the

eagle was pictured as rising to higher regions. . . . The Adler would have been successful had its

proprietor rightly understood the problem." Stating that most of the German immigration was then

going to Missouri, Fieser determined to follow it and give up German journalism, but landed instead

first at the Louisville Volksbühne and shortly after came to the assistance of Henry Roedter (editor

of the Volksblatt who resigned to become Justice of the Peace). Fieser then became editor of the

Cincinnati Volksblatt, at a time when it was the only German daily in the United States. Bee Lee,

I, 472.

[ 5 ]

ing first weekly, then semi-weekly, later tri-weekly and then daily.5

Together Reinhard and Fieser edited and published the Westbote from

1843 to 1884, after which the Westbote Company was formed with Henry

A. Reinhard as president (1885-1903).6 From 1903 until 1918, the paper

was printed by the German-American Publishing and Printing Company

with various editors: Leonhard Hirsch (1903-08), Charles F. Gerhold

(1910-15) with temporary assistance from others, and finally Gustav Hirsch

(1916-1918). The sons of Leonhard Hirsch (Gustav, Ralph and Max)

were the chief figures in the German-American Publishing Company. Their

company was financially successful and dedicated to the cause of German

publications but when America entered the First World War, the owners

announced on August 17, 1918 that German newspapers were not in the

best interests of the country and discontinued their papers.7

Before taking over as editor of the Westbote in 1903, Leonhard Hirsch

had been editing the daily Columbus Express (Oct. 1, 1891-1903) which

merged with the Westbote to become the Express und Westbote with

varying titles.8 Formerly a newspaper editor in Frankfurt, Hirsch had so

irritated the Prussian establishment during its military build-up for war

with France, that he was forced to flee the country. Arriving in Columbus

in 1876, he first became a staff member of the Westbote before launching

his own paper, Der Ohio Sonntagsgast one year later.8 By 1891 Hirsch

was able to expand into the daily publication of his Express, a Republican

paper, which continued until the merger, when its political position became

Democratic, the viewpoint of the Westbote.

A few other German papers appeared at short intervals. First, there

5

Arndt-Olson, 477. See also Lee, I, 441 If. The bound files of the Columbia Wettbote (title

varies slightly) are preserved at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus. With very few exceptions

the set includes all issues. 6 After two years of publication, the Westbote moved to Mechanic's Hall, southeast corner of

High and Rich. In 1848, the office was moved to the Statesman building on State Street until 1865

when it moved back to Main where the proprietors purchased their own office. The company had for

years the contract for the state printing to be done in German. In 1870, the firm erected the Westbote

Building as their permanent location at a cost of $40,000. See Jacob H. Studer, Columbus, Ohio:

Its History, Resources and Progress (Columbus, 1878), 251.

The joint stock company was formed in 1885, with capital of over $100,000. The principal

stock holders were Jacob Reinhard, Henry A. Reinhard, and William Kemmler, George J. Brand, and

Peter Hinterschitt, all of whom had worked for years to make the paper a success. See Lee, I, 441.

Jacob Reinhard was born in Bavaria in 1815, coming with his parents to America in 1833. Besides

editing the paper, he was a part time lawyer, and since 1852, was reelected for twenty years to the

City Council, for five years serving as president of the Council. He was a lifelong member of the

Democratic State Executive Committee and its treasurer. Twice he was nominated and defeated

narrowly for Democratic Secretary of State. See Lee, I, 877.

Friedrich Fieser studied in Wolfenbüttel, where he was bom in 1814. He arrived in America in

1836. In 1868, with his colleague, Fieser opened a bank under the firm name Reinhard and Co., the

business he continued until his death in 1891. A staunch Democrat, Fieser also served for years on

the Board of Education, at times as its president. See Lee, I, 471-872, 892-893. 7 See Hooper, 184. When the company dissolved, they

were located at 274 South Third Street,

employed 42 persons and gave each of them a separation pay of one month's salary. At the tune,

Gustav Hirsch was a major in the Signal Corps, his brothers prominent in the war effort on the home

front. 8 See Hooper, 184. 9 Arndt-Olson, 472, 477. Note also that the Ohio Sanntagsgast is listed with the Express on

p. 472, with the Westbote on p. 477 and individually on p. 475. Concerning the life and death of

Leonhard Hirsch, see " In Columbus, Ohio " Deutsch-Amerikanische Geschichtsblätter, VIII (1908), 158.

[ 6 ]

was the Allgemeine Volkszeitung, owned and edited by John H. Orf, which

began on July 22, 1872 as an independent German weekly, but lasted only

a few months.10 Second, there was the Volkstribune, begun about 1851 by

George Hessenaur, George Brandt, and John Haisch, which lasted about

eighteen months.11 Third, Arndt and Olson list Die Presse with only heresay

information. It was edited and published by Eli T. Tappan as a Demo-

cratic paper beginning in 1847, but it lasted less than two years. It is

doubtful that the paper was actually German.12 Finally, there was the

short-lived Republikanische Presse established in 1858 as a campaign paper

owned by John Siebert and Henry Lindenberg, and edited by Herman

Ruess.13

Although World War I had put an end to all secular German-language

papers in Columbus, as early thereafter as May 1, 1920, the Columbus

Herold (1920-1932) started out as a tri-weekly, then issued as a weekly

(1933-1939) and ended as a semi-weekly (1940-1942), all the while as an

independent in politics. Edited by Herman Krause until 1933, and William

F. Thiemt (1934-1942), the paper was at first published by the Columbus

Printing Co., and later by the Columbus Herold Press Co. In 1940 its

circulation had climbed to 5,315." The latter figure might profitably

be compared to the maximal circulation reached by the prestigious West-

bote in 1915 when it ran over 13,000." This figure plummeted to zero with

the closing of the Westbote and climbed slowly through the twenties and

thirties until the U. S. entrance into the Second World War which spelled

the end of Columbus Herold.

In Columbus there were significant Church publications in German.

However, since their primary concern was the dissemination of religious

affairs, their impact on the local German community was minimal. The

most prominent of these were: Lutherische Kirchen Zeitung (1868-1927)

published by the faculty of Capital University at first, and later by the

Lutheran Book Concern; Kirchen-Blatt der Evangelisch-Lutherischen

Synode van Iowa (1858-1955), published in varous cities including Co-

lumbus; Der Sendbote des Göttlichen Herzens Jesu (1874 to date), a

Roman Catholic monthly published by the Franciscan Fathers in Columbus

and other cities; and the Ohio Waisenfreund (1873-1954), also Roman

Catholic, a weekly begun at Pomroy, Ohio but moved to Columbus and

then to Worthington. It was edited and published by the priests of the

Josephinum College.14

Two religious publishers became prominent for their semi-commercial

activity in the German language. One was the Josephinum Press which

showed marked success from contracts for printing parish materials in and

about the state of Ohio.17 Far larger was the Lutheran Book Concern,

established in Columbus in 1881, which made Columbus the center of

Lutheran publications. This establishment was first managed by John L.

Trauger, later by Frederick J. Heer who continued as manager until 1907.

When Heer resigned from the concern, he started the F. J. Heer Printing

Company (still in operation), which became a leading publishing firm in

Central Ohio.18

10

Arndt-Olson, 472, Studer, 254, Lee, I, 442. 11Studer, 258, Lee, I, 442. 12 Arndt-Olson, 478. See Studer, 257. See also William T. Martin,

History of Franklin County

(Columbus, 1858), 66. Martin states that it was called The Ohio Press begun as a rival to the Ohio

Statesman. See also Lee, I, 430, where the paper is grouped with other English papers. 13 Studer, 258, Lee, I, 442. There were other fraternal

papers and agricultural and garden publica-

tions, all of which are given in detail in Arndt-Olson, 472-477. 14 Amdt-Olson, 478. 15Ibid., 477. 16See Arndt-Olson, 473-476. 17 Hooper, 184. 18

See " Biographical Sketch of Frederick J. Heer" in Hooper, 436-437. Heer was the son of

[ 7 ]

The Lutheran Book Concern came under the editorship of A. H. Dorn-

birer in 1907. Besides publishing the papers mentioned above, the firm

printed English-language papers and magazines, almanacs, liturgies, hym-

nals and generally whatever the synods needed. Beginning modestly, the

venture was so successful that by 1892 it had a three-story building on

East Main Street, which was quickly outgrown and a new building

was added in 1908. Success was so great that assets accumulated allowing

the Concern to contribute its profits to the synodical treasury. Also, it was

able to establish and increase an endowment for a professorship of German

at Capital University.19 A few directories, almanacs and popular novels

were also published by Columbus presses but it is not known whether these

religious firms did the printing.20

Despite the significant role played by the German Lutheran publica-

tions in Columbus, it was the Westbote more than any other organ that

served to preserve the cultural heritage of the German immigrant while

it eased him into his new Mother tongue and new Father land. It exer-

cised leadership in political areas while it put its clientèle in touch with

literature, drama, music, and general progress of his homeland. What can

be said generally about the foreign-language press in America can be said

eminently about the Columbus Westbote, that while it acted as a cen-

tralizing force for a time by making its readers conscious of their national

origin, it also functioned as a centrifugal power by introducing them to

the life of the American community, thus helping them break out of their

cultural and social isolation.

The real power behind the Westbote was its skilled editor, Friedrich

Fieser, who made it a thing to be reckoned with, not only in Ohio but in

the whole Middle West.21 Fieser's sharpest weapon was a forceful and

correct German and he used it meticulously and deftly. There is a con-

spicuous lack of the hilarious German-American jibberish that sometimes

resulted when editors lifted from English papers and reproduced the

material word for word in German. One example of the many strange

results is the following: " Three cheers for Queen Victoria " appearing in

German as " Sie brachten der Königin Victoria drei Stühle," having con-

fused cheers with chairs.22 Jacob Reinhard, co-editor and publisher of the

Westbote deserves credit on his own grounds as well as for bringing Fieser

to Columbus. At a convention of German newspaper editors in Ohio in

1859 the accomplishments of Fieser and Reinhard were recognized and the

two were complimented for their services to the German public.23

Although political discussion was a major public service, another was

the serial novel which generally filled the front page of every issue of the

Westbote. Other contributions to the community were of a more casual

nature, but of equal interest to the historian. When the editors felt bound

to intrude on the front-page serial with an inaugural address or a party

convention, they offered profuse apologies to wives and daughters. But

tactful explanations seldom quieted the feminine audience. Repeatedly

German immigrant parents, and became one of the prominent leaders in the city. Heer held many

public offices, including membership on the Board of Trustees of the Ohio Medical College, later

incorporated into The Ohio State University. Heer was the only member to become a Trustee of the

University. 19 Willard D. Allbeck, A Century of Lutherans in Ohio (Yellow Springs, Ohio, 1966), 286. 20 See Johann Eggers, " Der deutsche

Verlagsbuchhandel in den Vereinigten Staaten " Der deutsche

Pioneer, II (1870-1871), 178-182. Columbus publications are listed on p. 181. 21 Throughout its long history the paper sent out delegates to sell

subscriptions and collect fees

everywhere in Ohio. Usually an announcement appeared in the paper beforehand to certify the

roving collector. ²² Friedrich Fieser, " Aus meinen Erinnerungen " Der deutsche Pioneer, I (1869), 273-277, 306-310,

836-341. The Ohio Sonntagsgast, however, was less perfect, e. g., Aug. 21, 1898, the columnist writes

about " Reduzirte Raten " on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and about " Arbeiter Trubel " in the eastern

cities. 23WB., Jan. 27, 1859.

[ 8 ]

they would bombard the editors with letters protesting the violation of

front-page purity from politics.

Nevertheless, the German housewife of Columbus liked her role of

Kinder, Küche, Kirche and a genial atmosphere prevailed. The Westbote

functioned as a kind of clearing house for community information, serving

at once as bulletin board and telephone exchange. The editors boasted

that they knew personally almost all of their local subscribers and did not

fear sharp criticism. If they were too busy with job contracts, with elec-

tions, or when the staff was oil during Christmas, they did not hesitate

to delay or delete a given issue of the paper.24 When Friedrich Fieser got

married, not just the journal staff, but the whole community found cause

for general celebrations.25 Certain entries display a kind of refreshing

frankness as when the editors denounce women for spending their time

following the fads and fashions of the day. Yet, in the next column they

recommend that unmarried ladies will find at the German shoestore, attrac-

tive white kid and satin slippers at a low price.26

News from Germany always occupied a significant and large section of

the Westbote. The arrival of ships, immigration statistics, letters from

friends and relatives describing travel or living conditions in Germany

formed a part of each week's news. Items of local interest, coming from

scattered cities in Germany, told of fires, murders, and sinking ships, but

rarely of official government policy. The Westbote, like German papers in

all America, became an agency through which persons could inquire about

lost relatives and friends—often tender pleas by a father in search of a

son, or a man for his brother, hopefully still alive.

The Westbote grew affluent, its scope broadened, and its personal touch

got lost in the turmoil of world news and mass production. From an earlier

circulation of slightly over a thousand in the 1860's and 1870's, the sub-

scription increased rapidly to over 7,000 by 1900 and shot up to over

12,000 in 1905, leveling off then to an all time high of 13,000 in the peak

year of 1915. It can be said of the Westbote that it did its job not too little

but too well. Integration of the German immigrant into the English-

speaking community inevitably spelled doom for the German papers and

for the autonomy of the German colony. As the German element slowly

dissolved into the majority all about it, the need for its own news organ

simply vanished. This meant at first that the paper ceased to be a strictly

German publication, and became instead a typical newspaper that happened

to be printed in the German language. At the beginning of World War I,

the paper took the part of the Fatherland (understandably), later sup-

ported the cause of neutrality, and finally in self-defense, clamored for a

victory of the Allies against the former Fatherland. The Westbote's dying

gasp was a patriotic outcry: "We have from this time but one duty to

perform, and that an unswerving, unfaltering loyalty to the country and

the flag of our adoption." 27 A more subtle cause of death seems to have

been a cancerous multiplication of financial troubles arising from the

monetary difficulties of the Jacob Reinhard family. When the publishing

firm at first was doing so well, the editors channeled the bulk of their money

into a family owned bank. Therefore, when the bank failed, the fiasco

took the paper over the side with it.28

24

WB., Dec. 28, 1843; Nov. 26, 1847. 25WB., June 27, 1845. Fieser married Louisa Schede. 26WB., Dee. 13, 1844. 27Hooper, 184; WB. Aug. 20, 1918.

28

See Hooper, 250. The company was known as the Reinhard Co., and included Jacob Reinhard,

Thomas Miller, Joseph Falkenbach and Frederick Fieser. They began business on Dec. 1, 1868 with

capital stock of $20,000. As members retired, or died (Fieser in 1891 and Reinhard in 1892), the

company was liquidated.

[ 9 ]

II. GERMAN ORGANIZATIONS AND CLUBS

That the City of Columbus today is still the scene of German singing

societies says something about the vigor and vitality of these socities,

while it attests to a genetic past which, if nothing else, has left dominant

traces. Germans have traditionally been in love with festivities, and no

festival was ever complete or even a festival without music. Second only

to the propensity for festivity was a desire for organization. In the case

of German immigrants isolated from the natives by language and social

traditions, the need for social life among themselves fostered the inborn

proclivities to a combination of the tendencies toward festivities and

organization. The result was especially the singing society, and to a lesser

extent, the other organized clubs—the gymnastic society, the rifle club,

the fraternal and charitable groups, and even the guild-like merchant

associations—clubs that arose when Germans banded together to make

common cause in answer to a genuine need.

Because the German element in Columbus was not substantial before

1840, it is logical that we find no record of special clubs before that time.

The earliest organization to appear on the scene was the singing club,

Liederkranz, in 1843. Its life was so brief that none of the standard histories

of Columbus bother to mention it. However, in November of 1843, a

group of German youths, admittedly bored with the long winter evenings,

decided "to astonish the natives" with a new kind of excitement.¹ The

group at first confined its activities to serenading, but by 1844 when the

membership increased, there was a request registered in the German paper

for a public concert. A few weeks later the Liederkranz appeared on the

Fourth of July program of 1844.² The club remained active the following

year when, under the direction of Heinrich Gutmann, the members gave a

concert which merited editorial comment and thanks for "serving the

worthy cause of preserving German culture in the West."³ As far as is

known, however, the Liederkranz faded from the scene after 1845.

Some twenty years later, on August 6, 1866 other singers formed a

Liederkranz under the direction of Bernhard Kaiser,4 and soon they were

able to give public concerts and to buy a piano and furniture. For a long

time meetings were held on Wednesday evenings and Sunday afternoons

at Hessenauer's Hall, a generally popular assembling place for Germans.

Directors who followed Kaiser were Karl Schopelrei, Karl Spohr, Fred

Puhringer, Hermann Eckhardt, John Johanson, Franz Nebenstreit, Theo-

dore H. Schneider, George Brand, Robert Eckhardt, Herman Ebeling and

Karl Hoenig.5 Generally the society presented two concerts every year,

gave an annual masquerade ball (some 60 in all) and an annual banquet.

1

WB., Nov. 9, 1843. ²WB., June 14; July 12, 1844. ³WB., Feb. 14; Feb. 28, 1845. 4 See Lee, II, 769, and

Studer, p. 448. The original members of the Liederkranz were L. Bach,

Christ Balz, J. N. Bissontz, George Brand, Franz Fassig, Mathias Fassig, Christian Hertenstein,

Bernard Kaiser, Mich. Lush, George Muhlheim, John Reinhold, Charles Synold, and C, C. Weiss.

All were from the Independent German Protestant Church Choir on East Mount Street, whose pastor

was the Reverend Christian Heddäus. 5George S. Marshall, The History of Music in Columbus, Ohio (Columbus, 1956), 19.

[10]

At the masquerade ball they often presented a comic operetta.6 After

1870 the Liederkranz belonged to the North American Sängerbund and

participated in festivals as far distant as St. Louis, Chicago and Buffalo.

In 1878, together with their sister organization the Männerchor, the

Liederkranz organized the Central Ohio Sängerbund composed of a large

number of German singing societies from all Ohio. With general offices

in Balz's Hall on East Main Street, the society remained active with a

constant membership of around a hundred.

To a limited extent the Liederkranz entered the field of opera, giving

in 1880 Martha, in 1889 A Jolly Friend, in 1900 Der blaue Montag, and

in 1916 Der Dummkopf. Under the sponsorship of the Liederkranz the First

Imperial Marine Band of Germany gave a concert in the Columbus Audi-

torium on Goodale Street in 1905. A Golden Jubilee Celebration in 1916

seems to have been the society's death rattle, for after that solemn occasion

not much activity is reported. It lingered for another ten years until in

1926 it disbanded; most of the members joined the Columbus Männerchor.7

With its maximal membership now limited to 1,700, the Columbus

Männerchor is blessed with a waiting list for membership and the promise

of a long and vigorous life ahead.8 It restricts the number of active singers

to 108 and maintains its own hall and offices at 966 South High Street.

Having rented halls at various locations throughout three quarters of a

century, the members purchased their own property in 1921. Today's

vitality goes back well over a century.

The Männerchor was founded on October 24, 1848 when John P.

Bruck (German immigrant of 1834 and Justice of the Peace in Columbus

since 1837, later commissioner of Franklin County) gathered eleven men

at his office at 341 South Front Street to organize the society.9 After three

months the group made its first public appearance in January, 1849 under

the direction of Karl Schneider. By April the society was giving concert-

balls—more dance than concert it appears—no less than thirty-five in the

next decade.10

In its early years the Männerchor went through several depressions,11

but after each survival it grew stronger. Following an unpretentious

beginning the society grew in stature, eventually gaining national recog-

nition. In June 1852 the North American Sängerbund held its annual

meeting in Columbus. Flags decorated the city, banners were presented

to the President, Martin Krumm, a procession moved out to Stewart's

6

Lee, II, 770. 7 Marshall, The History at Music, 18-19. 8 The Columbus Männerchor of today owes its life blood to Mr, Andreas (Andy)

Holzapfel,

President of the society since 1948. Born in Garitz near Bad Kissingen in Bavaria in 1000, Andy

Holzapfel, presently the best known German-American in Columbus, came to the United States in

1930 and joined the Männerchor one year later. In 1937 he was elected Chairman of entertainment,

and in 1945 Vice-President of the organization. He was also elected President of the Ohio Stinger

Bezirk in 1966 and in 1963, Vice-President of the North American Stinger-Bund. During his presidency

the society opened its gates also to members of non-German origin. However, ninety-five percent

of all renditions are still sung in German. Holzapfel's personal work for deepening American-German

cultural relations was recognized in 1968 when the Federal Republic of Germany awarded him the

Officers Cross of Merit.

Today the Männerchor performs semi-officially for city and state functions and for prominent

conventions in Columbus. In addition, approximately fourteen concerts are given annually. Mr.

Holzapfel also takes the singers on out-of-town visits. These performances have been well received

everywhere and have created interest and a renewed appreciation for German song in America. 9 See Marshall, 5, and Lee, II, 768. The original

members were: George Baumueller, W. F. Marks,

Andreas Schneider, Philip Cpnrod, George Schneider, Jonas Kissel, Daniel Koenig, Martin Krumm,

William Raine Jr., William Siebert, Heinrich Treyen, and Friedrich Woll, all native Germans. See also

Heinrich A. Rattermann, " Anfänge und Entwicklung der Musik und des Gesanges in den Vereinigten

Staaten wShrend der ersten Halfte des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts," Deutsch-Amerikanische Geschichts-

blätter, XII (1912), 827-380. Rattermann deals with Columbus on p. 367. He states (probably

erroneously) that it was Ernst Nothnagel who founded the Männerchor in 1848. In 1839 Nothnagel

had begun the Liederkranz in Canton, Ohio. Thereafter he came to Columbus where he served as

superintendent of the state institution for the blind and became active in many German societies. 10WB., Apr. 20, 1849, gives a description of a

typical ball. 11WB., Sept. 26, 1851; Oct. 21, 1858.

[ 11 ]

Grove (later City Park, still later Schiller Park) for the festivities, and

back to City Hall for the ball. The whole affair prompted editor Fieser

to write: "The German songfest is the most effective means of uniting

the Germans of America in the close bonds of a common culture! May

these festivals, through the enthusiastic participation of every patriotic

German, continue to enjoy an ever increasing measure of success, and may

their influence become more marked."12

The year 1865 witnessed the Sängerfest of the North American Sänger-

bund, postponed during the Civil War, and said to have been " the most

important musical occasion in the history of the city."13 With no festivities

for several years, the Germans were thirsting for a sensational meet. With

twenty-seven units from cities between New York and St. Louis, the

celebration went on four full days, culminating on Sept. 1 with a dirge on

the Capitol steps, sung to mourn the sudden death of Governor John

Brough, who had died the night before in Cleveland.

Growing gradually from its function as sponsor of picnics and masked

balls,14 the Mdnnerchor became more and more a cultural force. During

the winter of 1869 it gave a series of concerts at Naughton Hall, which

did much to awaken the musical interests of the city. With precisely that

intention, the group was reconstituted on May 18, 1868 "to encourage and

cultivate a taste for music."15 Sticking to its purpose, the Mdnnerchor

in 1871 entered the fields of opera and drama, remaining active until 1901.

In 1871, under the direction of Carl Schoppelrei, they staged Lortzing's

Zar und Zimmermann in the Columbus Opera House with fifty voices

and a full orchestra; in 1872, the group presented Der Freischütz by Carl

Maria von Weber, under Herman Eckhardt; in 1873 there was Preciosa

also by Weber, a repeat of Der Freischütz, and Der Verschwender and

Bruder Liederlich; in 1879 Der Zopfabschneider; in 1880 once again Zar

und Zimmermann; in 1885 Flotow's Martha; in 1886 the members per-

formed Die Tochter der Hotte; in 1889 Der Waffenschmied by Lortzing;

in 1894 a reprise of Preciosa, followed in 1898 by Dr. Klauss and Hans

Huckebein; these were followed in 1901 by the operetta Lore vom

Schwarzwald.16

Before acquiring its own home the Mdnnerchor inhabited many dwell-

ings, private homes, the attic of a store, then in 1867 Hettenheimer's Hall,

a year later Naughton Hall, and for the next four years in Schräder's Hall.

On December 2, 1872 it moved to Germania Hall, which had been erected

and leased by J. and L. Zettler on the corner of Main and Fourth Streets.

Ten years later the chorus occupied the Wirthwein building on South

High."

Since its beginning the Columbus Mdnnerchor had assistance from the

German women, but an exclusively ladies' chorus was not organized until

forty years later. For a while membership was restricted to wives of the

male chorus members. In 1931, the Columbus Damenchor came into being

with regular rehearsals and performances. It shares the same hall, belongs

to the same Sängerbund, and gives similar concerts while also performing

civic and charitable functions.

Although the continuity of another singing society was frequently dis-

rupted, the Germania Gesang Verein proudly celebrated its centennial May

12

WB., June 11, 1852; see Studer, 56-57. 13Lee, II, 794. 14WB., July 81, 1867; Jan. 24, 1861. 15Lee, II, 769, and Studer, 441. 16See Marshall, 6-

7. From time to time the Männerchor also staged comedies. I shall not go

into details here since I intend to deal specifically with the German stage in Columbus in a later article. 17 See Lee, II, 768. It is not clear

whether the group remained at the Wirthwein until they

purchased their own building on South High.

[ 1 2 ]

22-29, 1966. Starting on February 26, 1866 as the Columbus Turnverein

the singing group was not officially constituted until 1882.18 Detailed

information about the society is scarce, and its operations were interrupted

repeatedly for World Wars and other reasons. Since 1950, however, the

society has had regular rehearsals under the direction of Fritz Saenger.19

In 1916, the Germania Society became a member of the Central Ohio

Sängerbund and has attended the song fests of that organization at least

four times. On three occasions in 1922, 1923, and 1924, the society spon-

sored male choruses from Southern Germany, which gave concerts in the

old Board of Trade Auditorium.20 In May, 1920 the Germania Gesang-

verein merged with the original Turnverein to form the Germania Turn-

und Gesangverein under the presidency of Paul Mueller who adeptly led

the new society for over 25 years.21 The society seems to have prospered

GERMANIA CLUBHAUS ON FRONT STREET

during the 1920's because in 1926 the members purchased their own hall

at 543 South Front Street, a structure which was substantially enlarged

in 1953. The group holds weekly rehearsals and provides social entertain-

ment for its 100 members (thirty in the chorus) and actively aids new

German immigrants.22

Besides the foregoing prominent ones, there were other German singing

societies which deserve mentioning. In 1853, the Concordia23 came into

being under the direction of an 1848 expellee, Otto Dresel, a man who served

repeatedly as national president of the federated German singing societies.24

18

See Marshall, 72. The first director was Herman Schmidt and later directors included Karl

Sehoopelrei, Frank Hebenstreit, J. Frederick, Theodore H. Schneider, Joseph Roesner, Otto Assen-

heimer, David W. Rohe, and for a long time I. A. Leinheuser. 19 Souvenir-booklet " Central-Ohio SSngerbezirk feiert das 23ste Bezirks-

Sängerfest zu Ehren dea

Germania Gesang- und Sportvereins " (Columbus, 1966), 4. 20 See Marshall, 73 for a list of presidents and officers. 21 See Souvenir Booklet of

Germania, 6. Paul Mueller also established a women's chorus in 1906. 22 Ibid., 4. 23WB., Aug. 19, 1858. 24 See A. E. Zucker, The Forty-

Eighters (New York, 1950), 289-290 for a biography of Otto

Dresel. He was born in Detmold and studied law at Jena, came to the U. S. via Baltimore in 1849.

He studied American law and practiced in Columbus. In 1861 he became superintendent of schools,

later a member of the Ohio Legislature. He organized the Columbus Public Library and was an

accomplished violinist.

[ 13]

Nothing is written about the Concordia after 1853. The Caecilien-Verein

made its appearance in 1861 and included both men and women.25 In

March 1856, the Beethoven Society was organized "to improve the popu-

lar musical taste and to exterminate the Uncled Ned and Oh Susannah

sort of music." 26 Its Orchestra and choir functioned for at least four years

performing programs of Händel, Haydn, Rossini and Beethoven, Directors

of the orchestra were H. J. Notnagel, A. Goodman and Karl Spohr while

the choir was under the direction of R. D. Dunbar.27 Together with the

Thalia-Verein the Beethoven Society gave Weber's Preciosa at Carpenter's

Hall on December 18, 1857.28

The first church choirs to gain distinction in Columbus were the Sänger-

chor of the German Catholic Church (Holy Cross) and later that of the

German Independent Protestant Church.29 St. Paul's German Lutheran

Church gave concerts of sacred music on many Sunday afternoons.80 In

November 1868 the German Catholics organized the Harmonic Gesang

Verein under the direction of Q. Burkley.31

Second only to the Männerchor the most prominent cultural force

among the Columbus Germans was the drama club, the Thalia-Verein.

It was initiated on February 20, 1855 and by March 30 had given its first

performance.32 In scarcely two months time the club numbered 100 mem-

bers enabling it to produce a play every two weeks. One-act comedies were

the rule and the audience was restricted to members. Later performances

were open to outsiders when invited by a member. Significant contributions

were made by the Thalia-Verein in the 1858-59 season when Friedrich

Schiller's birthday was celebrated. The club brought in the Cincinnati

Adlersberg Company for a performance of Die Räuber on Nov. 2, and

Wilhelm Tell on Nov. 25, 1858.33 During 1861 the Apollo Hall in Kanne-

macher's Building on South High Street was opened as the official head-

quarters of the Thalia-Verein?34 In that hall, the Verein gave a melo-

dramatic play written expressly for the society by Hermann Ruess of

Columbus. It was entitled Fort Sumter: Patriotism and Treachery and

was performed on May 17, 1861.35 During the Civil War there was appar-

ently too much activity and too prevailing a tendency toward military

showmanship for drama and dramatic societies to survive.

Of less significance to the German element as a whole were the special

interest societies which often expired shortly after birth, or were restricted

to German-speaking people from areas not belonging to Germany proper.

In this category we have the Swiss Helvetia Mdnnerchor, begun in 1889

by the Swiss immigrant, Bernard Buehler. Always geared to themes of

an alpine style, the society helped organize Swiss singing societies in 1896

when the Swiss American Sängerbund was formed in Sandusky, Ohio. The

Columbus Helvetia attended all 21 of the subsequent national meets.36

By 1896 the Helvetia male chorus had a sister singing society, the Edel-

weiss Damenchor, founded under the leadership of Eliza Kunzi and Pauline

25

WB., April 11, 1861, Hooper, 285, Lee, II, 794. 26Hooper, 285. 27WB., Dec. 31, 1857; Feb. 8, 1859; Apr. 19,

1860. 28Hooper, 285. 29WB., Nov. 3, 1854; April 12, 1860; Dec. 13, 1860; June 7, 1860. 30WB.,

June 23, 1854; May 30, 1856. 31Studer, 443. 32WB., Feb. 22, 1855; April 2, 1855. 33WB., Nov. 26, 1858; an earlier local success

was Das war ich, April 15, 1858. 34 Lee, II, 794. Before the Thalia existed, traveling German theater companies performed in

Columbus. One from New York appeared in 1852 (WB., Sept. 8, 1852) another in 1853 (WB., Aug.,

26, 1853). The famous Thielmann family of Cincinnati spent a week in Columbus during 1854 and

1855 (WB., Aug. 11, 1854 and Jan. 19, 1855). In this connection see also Kathryn E. Utz, " Drama

in Columbus " (unpubl. M. A. Thesis, Ohio State Univ., 1947), 51. 35 Utz, 78. 36 Marshall, 73.

[ 14]

Aured.37 Still active today, the two organizations give a public concert

once a year, sometimes as a joint effort by all the German singing societies

of the city. Earlier the Swiss groups met at 571½ South Third Street but

recently they have constructed a Swiss Chalet at 1036 South Front Street

where they have a hall, a restaurant and office space.38

The German Arbeiter Gesang Verein, begun in 1909, is an example

of the tendency among all German-Americans to create social organizations

according to sociological stratifications. Becoming inactive in 1918, the

members reactivated in 1924 and continue today although their songs are

mostly sung in English at their residence on 425 East Kossuth Street.39

Little is known about a Badischer Sängerchor except that it was in the

spotlight during the dedication ceremonies of the Schiller monument in

1891.40

A lesser musical organization in the German community was the De

Bariot Club (1859-1869), a small orchestra which encouraged good taste

in music and played basically for other musical groups in Central Ohio.

Its permanent president was the Forty-Eighter, Otto Dresel, its director

Hermann Eckhardt.41 There was also an Eckhardt String Quartet Club,

essentially a juvenile group of students studying with Hermann Eckhardt.42

The Washington Band was reported as early as 1840 when the German

residents organized the Washington Artillery Company. Sometimes referred

to simply as the German Band, it appears that the band was actually a

segment of the Artillery Company of the same name.43 There were others:

Towler's Band (1865-1869), directed for a time by Otto Dresel, a Hemmers-

bach (1869-1882), a Vogelsang's Band (1869-1874), as well as several other

marching bands usually having German conductors and members who were

German at least in name.44

Prior to the development of huge insurance companies and nationwide

labor unions, the role played by the mutual aid society was significant.

Often such societies were linked to a church, just as often to citizens with

a common national origin. Following this pattern, the Germans of Colum-

bus had their Arbeiter-Verein started early in the Civil War with the

objective of helping the working class.45 In the line of charitable institu-

tions there were the First and Second German Beneficial Societies, organ-

ized about 1841 by the Protestant Churches. The Catholics had their

Catholic Benevolent Association, St. Martin's Catholic Benevolent Society

begun in 1858, and the St. Francis Xavier Catholic Benevolent Society

begun in 1868, the latter associated directly with St. Mary's Church. The

Swiss had their own mutual benefit club, the Grütti Verein begun in 1870

and there was even a German Butcher's Association begun in 1867. Its

purpose was to pay sick members and widows of former members.46

Finally, there was the Columbus Typographical Union, largely but not

exclusively a German union which met regularly in the Westbote Building.47

37

Ibid., 73-74. 38 See Souvenir Booklet " Germania Gesang und Sportverein," 82. 39Marshall, 89. 40WB., July 7, 1891. 41Marshall, 14, Studer,

445. 42Studer, 445. 43Marshall, 4. 44Ibid., 16. 45Studer, 423-425. 46Studer, 429, 433. 47See Studer, 417-423. See also Alexander Schem, Lexicon,

III, p. 855. Schem mentions not

only the singing societies with their memberships in 1869 but also provides a list of social and mutual

aid groups as of 1869. They are as follows with their memberships where available; Columbus Hain

(207), Franklin Capital (58), Harmonia Loge (271), Ooncordia Lager (105), Scioto Stamm (130),

Th. Parker Loge (50), Turnverein (96), Germania Loge (70), Zion Loge der B'nai B'rith (50),

Arbeiter-Verein (132), Erster deutscher Unterstützungs-Verein (60), Zweiter deutscher Unterstützungs-

Verein (65), Deutscher Metger-Verein, Verein der deutschen Wirthe, Schützen-Verein, Grütli-Verein,

[ 15 ]

The Germans of Columbus recruited and maintained for many years

two Artillery Companies, both with their marching bands. No German

picnic, parade or fair would have been much without the military companies

and their bands. Bright uniforms and zestful maneuvers distinguished

their holidays. Cannons saluted arriving dignitaries and marching soldiers

escorted them to and from the depots with lively music.

The First German Artillery Company founded in 1840 had been en-

listing men for only a few months when a rival, The German Washington

Artillery Company, got under way.48 The two groups drilled regularly

and achieved such a degree of preparedness that when the war came with

Mexico in 1846 they formed the nucleus of the Ohio volunteer group.49

Led by their captains, Frankenburg and Jacob, the German Companies

hoped to retain their identity but were refused by Ohio's Governor

Mordecai Bartley because of an alleged language problem.50 Needless to

say the Governor was denounced for his action by the Westbote: "The

German population of Ohio will not forget this insult, this outrage, and

will hold the leaders of the Whig Party responsible for it." 51 Apparently

the need for German support in the war was great enough to compel the

U. S. Secretary of War to rebuke Governor Bartley publicly for his

impetuous decision.52

Nevertheless the two companies disbanded to form what was later known

as the 4th Ohio Regiment.53 Otto Zirkel, a Columbus physician and a

veteran of the Prussian Army, became its captain. In April, 1847 the War

Department announced its requisition of the basically German unit and

late in May they departed for Mexico.54 How much action the Germans

met is unknown, but of the ninety-five who were called in 1847, six died,

eight either deserted or remained in the West, and ninenteen were still in

hospitals when the detachment returned to Columbus late in July, 1848.55

On that occasion a tumultous welcoming parade moved down High Street

to Jaeger's Orchard Garden, attracting attention even in the English-

language Ohio Statesman.56

Enthusiasm waned for a few years although in 1851 the Germans formed

the Grenadiers.57 Nevertheless, with the growth of Nativism the German

military organizations seem to have declined in popularity—at least the

German papers said less about them. It is known, however, that a German

Infantry Company existed in 1855,58 and that in 1859 the Steuben-Garde

was organized.59 Early in their existence, the guards were riddled with

dissension and a disgruntled faction became the Deutsche Jaeger Com-

pagnie.60 Soon both companies were actively engaged in the Civil War

and others were recruited.61 The Civil War proved to be a leveling force.

As men from Ohio moved to the front in numbers, national origin and

Sherman Guard. Church organizations included: St. Josephs Waisen- und Unterstiitzungs-Verem (136),

St. Aloysius Jünglings-Verein (65), St. Martinus Wohltätigkeits- und Unterstützungs-Verein, St. Marien

Jungfrauen-Verein, St. Elisabeth Waisen-Verein, St. Bonafacius Bauverein (150), St. Franz Xavier

Unterstützungs-Verein (68), St. Marien Alter-Verein (230), St. Vincents Jünglings-Verein (60), Kranken

und Unterstützungs-Verein der Dreieinigkeits-Gemeinde (70). 48WB. Dec. 28, 1843; Jan. 31, 1845. Lee, II, 79. 49WB. May 22, 1846. Lee, II,

16, 17. 50 WB. May 26, 1846. 51 Ibid. 52WB. July 10, 1846. 53 WB. May 14, 1847. Lee, II, 25 includes a list of members and their ranks. 54WB.

May 21; May 28, 1847; Lee, II, 20. 55 WB. July 26, 1848; Aug. 4, 1848. 56 See Lee, II, 22. 57 WB. Sept. 26, 1851. 58 WB. June 29, 1855. The

company had sixty enlisted men. Officers were C. Bretz, J, Reel,

Hud. Rickly and C. Richard. 59 WB. Feb. 17, 1859. The Infantry Company had about fifty members. WB., Apr. 14, 1859. 60WB. March 8, 1859

61

Lee, II, 115.

[16]

autonomy were soon lost. The German Americans served the union army

well, of course—estimates range from 176,817 to 216,000—exceeding pro-

portionally any other nationality.62 The Forty-Eighters, victims of another

civil conflict in their own country, were especially prominent in the Ameri-

can struggle.

After the War, Columbus had its German Sherman Guards and other

German companies but the features marking them as German had vanished.

Instead of spritely German troopers, there were veteran reunions and

National Guard Organizations, and it was the experiences of former battles

rather than ethnic origin that provided the mutual bond.

Gymnastic societies have sprung up wherever there have been Germans.

Their origin dates from 1811 when the Berliner Ludwig Jahn sought to

mobilize the moral and physical strength of Germany by gymnastic training

(Turnen) .63 Soon the gymnastic socities fanned out across Germany and

into German settlements in foreign lands, especially the United States.64

Columbus was no exception. As elsewhere, the Turners became active in

debate on political and social questions, sometimes fostered choruses and

bands, and always maintained their physical condition by athletic exercise.

The Columbus Turnverein was organized in 1851 and in less than a year

split into two groups; for years the original and the new Social Turnverein

continued in friendly competition.65 It was against the Turnverein that

Know Nothing prejudice came to the fore in Columbus. Although Nativism

had been sweeping the country since the early 1840's, only minor incidents

had occurred in Columbus, but in 1853 the Fourth of July celebration

threatened to erupt into a battle when the Männerehor and the Grenadiers

(who in former years had always celebrated the Fourth of July with the

native Americans) were returning from a picnic (for Germans) and two

natives threatened to shoot into the company.66 The man with the gun

was taken prisoner by the guards but a mob closed in to shelter his

companion and a brief hand to hand scuffle ensued. By October of the

same year the Know Nothings in Columbus had swelled to over 2,500

and produced majorities at the polls in all but the Fifth Ward.67 A German

political party was then formed to counter the Know Nothings but it

was too late to influence the elections of 1855.68

One target for the Know Nothings was the German societies. On May

29, 1855 the Turnverein numbering about forty members returned from

a picnic. The colorbearer carried a red silk flag bordered with black and

inscribed with yellow letters in German. Rumor had it that the banner

was "The Red Republican Flag of Germany" and that the inscription

was anti-American. Enthusiasts therefore met the returning Turners at

the Canal Bridge on Main Street demanding that they lower the flag. Upon

refusal, they tried to wrest the banner from the Turners and pelted them

with stones. Stone throwing continued in various parts of the city during

the evening festivities. When on May 31, Mr. Zehnacker raised a similar

62

See Wittke, The German-Language Press, p. 148. For a statistical breakdown of the German-

Americans in the Civil War see Wilhelm Kaufmann, Die Deutschen im amerikanischen Burgerkriege

(Munich and Berlin, 1911), 118 ff. Kaufmann notes that 216,000 soldiers were German-born, 300,000

were first-generation Germans, and 234,000 more were of German origin. 63Kurt F. Reinhardt, Germany: 2000 Years, 2nd ed. (New York,

1961), 442. Disciples of Jahn

in this country were Carl Beck, Charles Follen, and Francis Lieber who arrived in Boston about 1826

and began to translate the doctrines of Jahn into practice in America. See Albert B. Faust, The

German Element in the United States (New York, 1926), II, 388 ff. 64 For a history of the Turner movement in America see Augustus J. Prahl, "

The Turner" in

Zucker, The Forty-Eighters, pp. 79-110; also A. J. Prahl, "History of the German Gymnastic

Movement in Baltimore," Reports, Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland, XXVI

(1946), 16-29. 65WB., Jan. 6, Feb. 20, 1852; Oct. 14, 1853. Lee, II, 771. 66WB., July 8, 1858. 67WB., Oct. 6; Oct. 18, 1864. 68WB., March 80;

April 6, 1856.

[ 17]

flag on his house (the regular meeting place of the Turners), the police

removed it as a precaution.69 The banner bore the inoffensive words:

Frisch, Fröhlich, und Frei on one side, on the other: Durch Übung zur

Kraft; durch Forschung zur Erkenntnis; Bahnfrei. The real cause of the

outburst was a general anti-foreign feeling among the Nativists.

During the same May weekend in 1855, the Männerchor was attending

a concert in Cleveland and when the word went out that the chorus was

carrying German banners and flags, the Nativists gathered to give the

singers a "warm reception" on their return. In the meantime, plans for

the harrassment leaked out and when the Cleveland train arrived in

Columbus, guards from the Ohio Penitentiary were present for protection.

Not only the guards, but a combined "guard" of some 600 Irish, American,

and German citizens assembled to assure safe transit for the chorus. The

escort took the marching choir, flags flying, down High Street where they

paused for a few patriotic songs before dispersing.70

Tempers cooled but feelings continued to smolder for a month before

flaming out of control on what has come to be known as the "Bloody

Fourth" in 1855.71 When a German military company and seventy-eight

Turners, carrying their banner and the American flag, were returning from

their festivities via State toward Front Street, they began to draw cat-

calls from Nativists. Along Town Street stones and epithets flew at the

Turners, who in turn, broke ranks and returned the insults. Conflicting

reports tell how the United States Hotel was mobbed, windows broken,

and people roughed up. As stones were flying, guns began to crack. The

fracas was over in minutes, but three Turners had been wounded and a

native, Henry Foster, had been shot through the lungs and died shortly.

By the time the Germans reached their homes in the South End, police

were already on the scene. Mobs joined in, homes were entered without

warrants, Germans were bound by self-appointed police and carted off to

jail. Shouts rang out, "Hang the damn German on the lamp post." Stories

were printed which told of women standing in doorways defending their

Turner husbands from the police and the mobs, one with a revolver, another

with a knife and sickle; one is supposed to have thrown two men down the

stairs. Twenty Germans were detained in jail, and with one exception

were released the next day on $15,000 bail. The night before a German

member of the City Council was personally freed by the mayor. Only

Gottlieb Mayer was held while lawyers prepared for his trial. One month

later at the hearing thirteen Turners were pronounced innocent, six were

bound over to a court for jury trial, and by mid October, all had been

exonerated including Mayer. The testimony heard by Justice William

Field revealed that the July Fourth outburst was the result of the May 29

incident, and it was the May stoning that prompted the Turners to carry

weapons on July Fourth. The outbreak was never repeated although one

Turner, John Haisch, was severely injured a month later when "true

Americans " attacked him.

So disruptive was the affair that the gymnastic society faded from view

until after the Civil War. In 1866, however, the Turwverein was recon-

stituted in large part due to the efforts of Colonel Gustav Tafel, then a

member of the General Assembly from Hamilton County. In 1869, a

convention of Turners in the Cincinnati district was held in Hessenauer's

Hall and in 1872, the Ohio Valley District of Turners held a three day

August meet in Columbus. Parades, flags, dances, and speeches together

69

Lee, II, 62. 70 WB., June 8, 1855. 71 For a running account of developments, see the following issues of the WB., July 6, July 13,

July 27, Aug. 8, Oct. 12, 1855. See also Lee, II, 63-66.

[ 18 ]

with a torch-light procession of nearly 300 Turners created a memorable

spectacle for the city.72 There were more conventions in 1878, 1881 and

1888. By 1881 the Turners owned a large hall on South High and remained

active beyond the turn of the century. As with other German societies,

World War I marked a difficult stage, but the Turners survived, although

in weakened condition. As a result on May 15, 1920 the society joined the

Germania Singing Society to form the Germania Turn und Gesangverein,

still existing; today it is noted for its soccer team and the Gemütlichkeit

displayed in their beer garden on South Front Street.73

In addition to their gymnastic clubs, most German communities had

another favorite sport, the Rifle Club, Schützenverein. Like the Sängerfest,

SYCAMORE AND CITY PARK

the Schützenfest was an annual competitive event between clubs from

many cities. In August, 1853 Columbus had its first such festival together

with parade, contest, banquet and ball.74 An 1865 City Engineer's map of

Columbus shows a large plot of land at the Southeast corner of Stewart's

Grove (Schiller Park) which is labeled with the German words "Schuetzen

Platz." There were also German fire companies in Columbus (four were

German in a total of six), whose first purpose was to fight fires, but whose

most popular activity was engaging in contests with companies from other

cities.75

The Columbus Humboldt-Verein had quite different objectives. On

the one hundredth anniversary of the birthday of Alexander von Humboldt,

the Germans of Columbus honored the scholar with a festival parade which

included every German organization and society in the city. It is estimated

that over 8,000 took part.76 After the parade, Heinrich Olnhausen delivered

72

Lee, II, 772. 73 See Souvenir Booklet of the Germania, p. 4. 74WB., Sept. 23, 1853. 75WB., Aug. 25, 1859. 76WB., Sept. 23, 1869. The

following units appeared in the parade and are listed here to show

the cross section of the clubs existing at a given point in time: Hemmersbach Musical Band, Sherman

[ 19 ]

an address at the Opera House and Hemmersbach's music corps presented

a concert." The Humboldt Verein was formed to blend literary and musical

culture with social enjoyment as well as to cultivate the use of the German

language. Under the auspices of the Humboldt Verein prominent speakers

have visited Columbus.78 The Humboldt society remained active through

the years, holding regular meetings and sponsoring lectures and cultural

events.79 At one time there was also a Humboldt Lodge Number 476,

reported as starting in 1873, but whether the Lodge was part of the Verein,

or a separate organization is unclear.80

The Columbus Kossuth Verein was started to honor the 1849 patriot

of Hungary. In that year, Louis Kossuth obtained certain rights under

the Austrian crown to establish an independent government but it failed

when opposed by the pressures from Russia and Austria. His armies of

revolt vanquished, Kossuth took refuge in Turkey and came to the United

States on a ship dispatched by the U. S. Senate despite demands for his

extradition from Turkey by European governments.81 Kossuth's visit to

Columbus sparked profound sympathy for the common cause of freedom.

Serenaded by German singers and bands, Kossuth addressed himself occa-

sionally in German but more often in English to the total U. S. citizenry.

It was his inspiration that led fifty-five German women to initiate the

Kossuth Club and to raise about $1,000 which was donated to the cause

of "freeing the oppressed people of Europe."

Earlier but in the same vein, appeals had been made from time to time

in behalf of relatives and families of local German citizens, who were

imprisoned or expelled from their country. Likewise, newly arriving Ger-

man immigrants often made successful appeals in Columbus, usually

through the local organizations.82

In summary, it can be said that the German Verein, more than any

other foreign tradition in this country, produced the emotional and social

cohesiveness that made the Germans a unique group in America. Germans

did not shed their ways and habits easily. Sometimes, even in Columbus,

Germans took delight in flaunting their "better taste" in the face of

Americans whom they regarded as tamed barbarians, but little more.

Although such a haughty attitude would have been difficult for the indi-

vidual German, it came easy in the anonymity of the club. This, and the

need for social interchange in an era when public entertainment was not a

commonplace, induced the Germans to initiate and maintain assiduously,

the Verein. Once started, traditions die hard, especially among a people

who, even as emigrants, long upheld the cultural tradition and the technical

training acquired in their mother country.

Guards, Capital City Guards, Turnverein, Schulrath, Stadtrath, Arbeiterverein, St. Francis Xavier

Unterstutzungsverein, Harmonic Gesangverein, Liederkranz, Gesangverein, Männerchor, Vogelgesang Music

Band, Erster deutscher Unterstützungsverein, Capital City Loge der St. Crispinus, Theodor Parker

Loge, Zion Loge der B'nai B'rith, Harmonia Loge der Oddfellows, Columbus Hain der Druiden,

Scioto Stamm der Nothmänner, Metzger-Verein, Feuer-Department, Deutsche Schuljugend von Schulen

in 3. und 4. St., Bürger welche keinem Verein angehoren. This list of Vereine might be compared

to the list of German clubs that existed in 1907. Every Saturday of that year the Columbus daily

Express und Westbote provided the names and officers of each club. There were eighty-two in all.

See Express und WB., Jan. 6, 1907. 77WB., Sept. 14; Sept. 23, 1869. 78 Lee, II, 771. 79WB., July 7, 1891. 80 Lee, II, 780. 81 For details of the

Kossuth visit to Columbus see WB., Dec. 19, 1851; Jan. 18, 28, 80; Mar. 5,

1852. See also Lee, II, 88-48. 82WB., Oct. 26, 1843; March 5, 1846; March 26, Apr. 2. 1847.

[ 2 0 ]

III. THE SCHOOLS

In Ohio, public schools did not get under way until late in the 1830's.

However, long before that, most cities had a sprinkling of private schools.

German sections often had such schools connected with their churches.

Frequently a building used for services on Sunday was used for a school

during the week. The Columbus Germans had at least nine of these schools

in the decade 1845-1855, and in addition private schools were conducted for

children and adults. Often they handled basic subjects but just as often

they took up religion, bible, and sacred song.¹

Due to pressure from the large population of German immigrants in

Cincinnati, the Ohio Legislature in 1838 allowed any school subject except

the three R's to be taught in a foreign language. Continued pressure from

the Germans brought an amendment in 1839 encompassing all subjects.²

During the 1840's the Columbus Germans were successful in setting up

three German public schools (one of which dates from 1839) which together

employed nineteen German teachers and enrolled 207 pupils.³ One year

later in 1852 four German schools and 316 pupils prompted the Board of

Education to build a new structure at Fourth and Court Streets to house

exclusively German students. The number of German schools grew to

five in 1858, and to six in 1861.4 A public atmosphere sympathetic to

German-language instruction in the Columbus schools dates back to 1833

when, according to reports, ministers in the city taught German to the

natives while other private schools were closed due to cholera.5 A public

school report of 1872 furnishes a history of the city's public schools stating

that not only had the idea of bilingual education become an integral part

of the Columbus School System, but that the early non-German directors

had supported the idea consistently.6

By 1864 the Columbus system had been reorganized into five elementary

school districts, which were served by one high school dating from 1847.

In 1864 the district with the German schools was twice as large as any

other district. By 1870 German was used in the curriculum along with

English in three buildings: The Central School near Mound and Fourth,

the Third Street School south of Beck on Third Street, and the South

Street School near Fulton and Washington. In addition, there was a one-

room, ungraded school known as the "South German School—Suburban."

German was taught as a regular course of study in the high school.7

While the Board of Education furnished night schools especially for

'WB., Feb. 8, 1844, Dec. 5, 1845, Jan. 12, 1849, June 18, 1847. See also Margaret Sittler, p. 40. ² Nelson L, Bossing, " The History of

Educational Legislation in Ohio, from 1851 to 1925," Ohio

Archaeological and Historical Publications, XXXIX (1930), 161. See also Edward A. Miller, " History

of the Educational Legislation in Ohio from 1808 to 1860," Ohio Archaeological and Historical Publi-

cations, XXVII (1919), 55-56. Note on page 67 that an act of 1848 provided that only English

or German could be taught in the public schools of any incorporated town in Ohio. ³ WB., Dec. 20, 1850. See also Hooper, 176 and Lee, I, 650.

Lee states that there was one

German-English school between 1838-1845, two after 1845 and three by 1850. 4WB., Sept. 2, 1858, Mar. 28, 1861. 5Carl Wittke, ed., The

History of the State of Ohio, III (Columbus, 1941-44), 154, 158. 6 Columbus Board of Education, Annual Report for the School Year Ending

August 31, 1872

(Columbus, 1878), 61. 7 Harold Barnes Handerson, " German Language Instruction in the Columbus Public Schools,

1870-1900 " (unpubl. M. A. Thesis, Ohio State Univ., 1959), p. 8.

[ 21 ]

teaching English to Germans, mostly the younger Germans attended.8

The older people, indeed, complained that the public schools they were

supporting were teaching more English than German and they began to

agitate for a representative on the school board.9 "Do we pay pur taxes

and support the public schools only to have our children forget their mother

tongue and lose the rich heritage of German literature and culture?" 10

The dichotomy between English and German arose from the realities

of having a native tongue different from the one used in the country of

residence. When an immigrant feels himself superior to the culture to

which he emigrates, he tenaciously retains his mother tongue in the alien

environment as did the Germans who emigrated to Russia and later to

Kansas and the Dakotas; a century in Russia did little to wipe out their

German language. But when an immigrant finds the new cultural climate

desirable, use of the former language is soon threatened by cultural assimila-

tion. For this reason Germans in the United States subconsciously empha-

sized the use of German in proportion as the prestige of Germany rose

and fell in the world. When Germany was victorious in the Franco-

Prussian War, the Columbus Germans were delirious with joy. Fifteen

thousand strong, they celebrated on May 1, 1871, in the Columbus Streets.

Seven speakers delivered orations between musical interludes and only the

Governor spoke in English. (More about the festival later.) The second

week after the celebration the editors of the Westbote jubilantly reported

that "many Americans have already expressed to us their determination

that in any case they now want their children to learn German."11

By 1871, of course, the Germans had also purchased their acceptance

on the battlefields of the American Civil War, and there was no longer

any sign of Nativist resentment. In fact, so successful was the recognition

of German, that Friedrich Fieser, editor of the Westbote, was elected and

served for years as member, and two terms as president, of the Board of

Education.12 But the intention not to slight the use of German in the

schools was not automatically solved. In their 1872 report on the Central

German School, the evaluators wrote: "Some of the teachers seem to

neglect teaching German. We understand that due credit is not given to

the scholars in the examinations, for their proficiency in this language,

and hence that neglect. This is the more wrong when we consider that

in our German-English schools the best scholars in the German language

are in the great majority of cases also the best scholars in the English

language. The two languages should be taught to benefit and improve each

other, and one should not be taught at the expense of the other." 13

During the 1870's when the enrollment in German-speaking public

schools increased from 1,500 to nearly 2,400 the recommended board pro-

cedure was that in the early grades all instruction would be in German.

A gradual transition was to be made before the completion of the fifth

grade in order not to jeopardize the student who would later have to cope

with an English-speaking environment. Sometimes the reports indicate

that the children who left school after the fifth grade were not adequately

trained in English." In general, pupils of German schools who wished to

finish grade school and go on to high school were permitted an additional

year due to the transition from German to English. There are reports that

8

WB., Nov. 20, 1851. 9WB., Feb. 17, 1859. 10 WB., June 28, 1860. 11 WB., May 11, 1871.

12

In 1873 an elementary school for 600 pupils was built at State and Starling Streets and named

in honor of Friedrich Fieser. See Lee, I, 574. 13 Annual Report of 1872, 78. 14Ibid., 95.

[ 2 2 ]

many native Americans also sent their children to the German schools on

account of their superiority and the opportunity they provided for language

study."

Commenting on the quality of the German schools, the Reverend Kon-

rad Mees, a board member, claimed, "these schools were universally most

regularly attended, thus generally being the best filled schools, and, there-

fore, at all times entitled to a just complement of teachers."16 Likewise,

Superintendent Robert W. Stevenson remained for years a champion of the

German-English schools until his resignation in 1889, commenting at one

point: "The privilege of learning the German language is not only given

to the children of German speaking people, but to all who are sent to the

public schools. It is a legally authorized branch of study, and the same

opportunity should be given for its study as is given for any other

branch."17 Stevenson was so convinced of the efficaciousness of the Ger-

man schools that he advocated establishing these schools outside the

German sections of the city, adding "the teachers who are superior

instructors of the German language, rank also among the very best teachers

of English."18

In 1873 a state law was passed which provided that teaching of the

three R's had to be done in English. Furthermore, an economic depres-

sion in the same year caused the over-all enrollment in the schools to

decline by more than one thousand pupils. Despite these factors, the total

number of students taking German increased. By 1876 French was dropped

from the curriculum in the high school, and a sharp increase was reported

of non-German pupils attending the German schools.19 When the Columbus

School Board submitted a total of twenty volumes of pupils' work to the

Philadelphia Exhibition in 1876 and nine of them contained German work,

suspicion arose. Charges were leveled that a "foreign" dominance pre-

vailed in the Columbus curriculum and that German was being forced on

the students by a diabolic Board of Education.20 Nevertheless, the decade

closed with the highest proportion of pupils who went on to high school,

coming' from the German-English schools. An 1879 report by the examining

committee stated: "In the last few years the honors of graduation have

fallen to the lot of the Central German-English school scholars." 21

The following decade brought a change in the general trend. According

to the 1880 Census, Columbus lost in its percentage of German-born

citizens, but retained more than a fifth of the population when calculated

as German stock born of German parentage.22 The decline of German

immigration in Columbus, plus the fact that in the year 1882 German

15

Lee, I, 564. WB., June 9, 1869. The editors point out the advantages of learning German,

with a long article pointing out the affinity of the German and English languages. 16Annual Report of 1872, p. 95. 17 Ibid., 59-60. Hooper, 170-171

reports that " the German language as well as the English is

the medium of communicating subjects to the pupils, and both languages enjoy equal importance,

yet without mingling them together." The superintendent is credited with solving the language problem

by this compromise in a manner far better than was the case in Cincinnati or St. Louis. See also

Alexander Schem, Lexicon, III, p. 855. " The German-English schools form special feelings of pride

for the Germans of Columbus. Probably nowhere in the United States has the German-English school

system been brought to a higher state of perfection than in Columbus, Ohio. In 1869 there were

in these schools, twenty-two teachers and 1100 children, virtually all from German parents." 18 Annual Report of 1872, 60. 19Annual Report of

1875, 117-118 20 Annual Report of 1877, 48-49. The rise of "native" opposition to the German-English schools

in the late 1870's is probably the result of their successes. This tendency to claw at the successful

minority is not an isolated phenomenon. For example, see Ernest J. Becker, "History of the English-

German Schools in Baltimore," Reports, Society for the History of the Germans in Maryland, XXV

(1942), 13-17. Becker states on page 14 that " in 1879 the name of the English-German schools was

changed to ' Public Schools.'" The purpose of the change was probably to meet opposition which had

sprung up in various quarters to the general idea of teaching any language but English in the public

schools at the tax-payers' expense." 21 Annual Report of 1879, 109. 22 Compendium of the Tenth Census (July 1, 1880) (Washington, 1883), I,

1406-7. See also

Handerson, 33.

[ 23 ]

immigration to the United States reached its peak, indicated a forthcoming

decline in the prominence of German in the schools. Bismarck's social

legislation was making it increasingly attractive for Germans to remain in

Germany. Not unexpectedly, then, the enrollment in Columbus' German-

English schools during the 1880's never topped the year 1878. However,

it appears that a strong demand for German-English schooling continued

and that the facilities were not always adequate. The 1882 examiners

called attention to the "very efficient" manner in which the study of

German was being carried on.28 When German was offered in non-German

districts, it was reported that "there is an unusual interest and pride in

the study of this subject [German]. The progress being made and the

command of the language already attained seem to prove that this is not

only a profitable study, but will be of practical benefit to those pursuing

it." 24 In 1884, the Beck Street school was put into operation as a German-

English school.25

Concerning the local celebration of Arbor Day in 1886 a report states

that the school children furnished "appropriate music and songs in both

German and English." 26 Perhaps this innocuous statement is of significance

at the point when, as Carl Wittke says, " by 1885 German-American

leaders were complaining that the younger generation was rapidly forgetting

the German tongue and that parents no longer insisted on having their

children study German in the schools."27 The children sang bilingually

in 1886 but probably did not sense that a kind of swan song was being

sung for the active use of their German language. For, the following year,

1887 marks the end of the long-standing entry in the reports of the "Ger-

man-English" schools to designate them as bilingual. The one exception is

the separate listing of the "Central German" school. Two years later in

1889 the report recommended that the study of German be undertaken

only at the option of the child's parents in whatever grade, thus eliminating

the notion that school policy was behind the study of German.28 Subsequent

recommendations for a special superintendent to look after German (as

was the case with music and drawing), was never implemented but it

indicates the non-curricular position to which German was being relegated.29

During the 1890's German remained significant in the Columbus system,

even though the German-born population continued to decline (under 8%)

and the proportions were being off-set by an increase in the native Ameri-

can children.30 In 1890 a state law was passed which provided that "all

branches shall be taught in the English language "31 but this law was

repealed the following year, and German textbook writers, taking hope,

improved their texts. Fate struck in 1893 in the form of economic depres-

sion which gave rise to anti-foreign feelings. This in turn gave rise to

suspicions concerning the loyalty of students in the German-English schools.

One year later Latin was gaining over German in the high school classes,

and both French and Greek were reinstated.32 It is interesting to note

23

Annual Report of 1882, 170. 24 Annual Report of 1881, 212. Only two of the reporting visitors have German names. 25 Annual Report of 1884,

64, 72, 76. 26 Annual Report of 1886, 149-160. 27 Carl Wittke, We Who Built America: The Saga of the Immigrant, rev. ed. (Cleveland, 1964),

229.

28

Annual Report of 1889, 92. 29Annual Report of 1889, 69, 85. 30 See Becker, " The English-German Schools in Baltimore," 17. Note that a

similar trend

could be observed in the City of Baltimore. There the enrollment in the German schools continued

to rise through the final decade of the last century. Yet the enrollment in Baltimore, as in Columbus,

was deceptive. While the Baltimore superintendent lamented that the schools had a larger number

of pupils on roll than their buildings would accomodate " he also complained about " the loose manner

in which pupils are allowed to go to English-German schools." This he maintained was " injurious

to discipline and instruction." 31 Handerson, 68. 32 Annual Report of 1894, 99, 226.

[ 2 4 ]

that Columbus closely parallels (or slightly precedes) the national trend,

for in these same years, the German-language press in America reached

its numerical zenith and began to decline after 1895.33 Anti-Catholic feelings

caused the withdrawal of Catholic Germans from the public school system

in 1895 when the first Catholic high school opened.34 Soon thereafter

German was established in four more schools, but the insiduous anti-

German rumors persisted prompting the following note in the 1895 Report:

"As far as Columbus is concerned, German is entirely optional and is not

required of anyone in any district. . . . The bulk of the time is given to the

fundamentals of a common school education—reading, arithmetic, geog-

raphy, and United States History." 35 The following year the Ohio Legis-

lature made it mandatory that the United States flag be flown over each

school in session,36 a reasonable gesture, but one which implicitly questioned

loyalties and demanded visible proof of patriotism. The year 1897 struck

a special blow to the teaching of German in Columbus, for in that year

the Board cited one of the reasons for rising costs as the increase in the

number of special teachers of German; for this reason the Board also

refused to grant any more petitions from non-German schools which sought

to add German to their curriculum.37 Thus, 1896 becomes a kind of high-

water mark for German instruction. At that time there was an elementary

enrollment of 2,980 taking German out of 14,946 elementary pupils, and a

high school enrollment of 299 out of a total of 1,731.38 Although a decline

of numbers and proportions set in immediately, the cut-off did not occur

until World War I. In 1899 the demand for German teachers remained

high especially in the South End where "teachers of German descent are

preferred and asked for not on account of their knowledge of the German

language alone, but because they understand the home life of the people." 39

After 1900 Columbus was largely either native or third generation

German. By that time German immigration into Ohio was going to larger

and more industrialized cities, particularly Cincinnati and Cleveland. The

younger Germans of Columbus moved to newer areas in the city and

German stock was to be found in every school district. Only on the South

side did German names hold a majority. The result was that a closed

German speaking community ceased to exist and with it the German

language as the medium of instruction in the schools. To be sure, the

German language gained more and more prestige in higher education, but

this did not generate a surge of interest in German in the lower grades.

When the war broke out in 1914 it was reported that 4,340 pupils were

taking German, about 1/6 of the total, but this plummeted to nothing in

1918 when even the German books had already been burned.40

Columbus also had numerous parochial and private schools for which,

however, statistics are not available. Mention will be made of the German

parochial schools when dealing with the German churches.

But before leaving the subject of German schools, a word about the

kindergarten program and Capital University. As early as 1838 Caroline L.

Frankenburg set up a kindergarten in Columbus. Only one year earlier

in 1837, the first kindergarten was established by Friedrich W. Froebel in

33

Wittke, The German-Language Press, 208; Cf. Becker, loc. cit., 13-7.

34

Kenneth Bradford, " Development of the Courses of Study in the Columbus Public High

Scho Is from 1847 to 1938 " (unpubl. M. A. Thesis, Ohio State University, 1989), 16. 35Annual Report of 1895, 206. 36 Annual Report o! 1896,

60. 37 Annual Report of 1897, 111. 38 Handerson, 66-57. 39 Annual Report of 18S9, 21. 40 Hooper, 171. For a picture of the use of German in

Ohio public schools after World War I

see Frederic J. Kramer, " German in the Secondary Schools of Ohio (1925-1986)" Monatshefte, XXIX

(1987), 402-408.

[ 2 5 ]

the town of Blankenburg, Germany. Usually credit is given to Mrs. Carl

Schurz for organizing the first kindergarten in America at Watertown,

Wisconsin in 1856." If it is correct as Hooper states that Miss Frankenburg

began a kindergarten in Columbus in 1838, it may well have been the first

one in America. A former student of Froebel, Miss Frankenburg conducted

CAROLINE LUISA FRANKENBURG

, 1836-1858

the school in Columbus for a short time, then returned to Germany. How-

ever, in 1858 she returned to initiate the system on a permanent basis.42

The story of Capital University starts in 1830. Under the leadership

of Wilhelm Schmidt, a young German theologian, and with the general

patronage of the Lutheran Synod of Zanesville, a seminary was started at

the Schmidt home in Canton, which a few months later located on South

41

See Wittke, We Who Built America, 280. 42 Hooper. 169-170. See also WB., Dec. 7, 1860; Dec. 27, 1860. See also Bill Arter, Columbia

Vignettes (Columbus, 1966), 70. Mr. Arter has sketched a building which served from the 1870's

onward as the kindergarten. In his write-up he reports also that when Caroline Louise Frankenberg

returned to Columbus in 1858, she used a little house at Rich and Pearl Streets. " She spoke only

German, but this was no handicap since half the town spoke that language. Tuition was 75 cents per

week." That so many spoke German is probably an exaggeration. Hooper also reports that during the

1870's there was a "college" for the training of kindergarten teachers. It was located on Fifth Street

north of the Cathedral.

[ 2 6 ]

High Street in Columbus.43 Since students came from all over the state,

many had an inadequate knowledge of German and practically from the

beginning, lectures had to be given in English. When Professor Schmidt

died in 1839,44 the Seminary Board of Directors immediately authorized

the teaching of theology in English. And when they hired Charles F.

Schaeffer, formerly pastor in Hagerstown, Maryland to become the second

professor and successor to Schmidt, English lectures became the practice

if not the rule. Schaeffer was proficient in German but American born,

and preferred English. When the Board appointed German born professor

Friedrich Winckler in 1841, trouble over the language situation flared up

from the English wing. Winckler took a stand on the letter of the consti-

tution insisting that German was the only authorized language of instruc-

tion.45 But when in 1841 the Synod met in Zanesville to consider the situa-

tion, Schaeffer had already resigned. The committee members reaffirmed

"the German language is the only medium through which theological

instruction may be given."46 It was a Winckler victory, however, one that

was bought dearly because the English constituency withdrew financial

support and in 1845 the synodical board was forced to settle the vexing

" language question " once and for all by recommending that lectures be

given in both German and English, but "that German textbooks be used

until English translations of safe German texts were available." 47

The college division of the Seminary dates from 1842-43 when the Board

received a charter from the Ohio Legislature to establish " Germania Col-

lege " for the purpose of preparing teachers for the schools and students for

the Seminary. Positive steps toward this goal came in 1847 when the Rev.

William F. Lehmann, a master of both German and English, was appointed

professor. His sense for the practical eventually led to his becoming presi-

dent of the combined institutions; by lecturing equally well in both lan-

guages until his death in 1880, he almost single handedly settled the

language question.48 An act of the Ohio Legislature passed on March 2,

1850 constituted Capital University with the same objectives originally

set up for the Seminary that "its chief object shall be to educate young

men for the ministry of the German Lutheran Church and to educate

German teachers of schools so that both the interests of our Church and

the education of Germans in general may be promoted and a knowledge

of the language and literature of Germany may be diffused."49 From the

beginning, the University was given to classical principles of education,

with Professor Lehmann directing the program of German language instruc-

tion and German literature. As early as 1851 an endowment was made to

set up a Scandinavian Theological Professorship, and although it was not

immediately carried out, it shows that divergent forces were continually

at work which threatened to undermine the continued use of German as a

living language in the university and the Seminary.

It is no wonder, then, that when the university appealed to the Germans

of Columbus for financial backing, the south-siders were skeptical: "Will

the Seminary and the University remain German? We must know that

first before we contribute "50 President Reynolds responded in a public

43

David B. Owens, These Hundred Years: The Centennial History of Capital University (Columbus,

1950), 11 ff. 44 Ibid., 16-17. Wilhelm Schmidt was born in Germany in 1803 of a Lutheran Pastor and educated

at the University of Halle. His tombstone in Greenlawn Cemetery bears the inscription "Wilhelm

Schmidt 1803-1839 Unser Lehrer, Unser Vater." 45Ibid., 22. 46 Ibid., 28. 47Ibid., 25. 48 See Lee, II, 207. See also Heinrich A. Rattermann, "

Professor Wilhelm Friedrich Lehmann,"

Der deutsche Pionier, XII (1880), 451-453. 49 Owens, 41. 50WB., Feb. 7, 1851.

[ 2 7 ]

letter to the Westbote: " The teaching in the Seminary will be done in

German; German will be studied and used not as a dead but as a living

language." 51 For a time thereafter German did seem to gain ground, and

the Reynolds administration fell into unpopularity with the English branch,

but the supporters of German could not avoid the fact that Lehmann was

the only faculty member who could converse freely in German. For a time

the other faculty members moved more and more in English-speaking

circles, which in the 1850's also meant less and less in Lutheran circles.52

In the meantime the Synod remained dominated by the German faction.

The result: President Reynolds was forced to resign. Taking his place in

1854 was Christian Spielmann, born in Baden, one time editor of the

Lutheran Standard, and at the time a Columbus pastor. When Spielmann's

health failed in 1857, however, the Board turned to the University's faithful

servant, and in many ways its compromising savior, William F. Lehmann.

Born in Markgröningen, Württemberg in 1820 Lehmann had come to the

United States at the age of four and had become a genuine representative

of both the German and the American cultures. Serving as president of

the University until 1880 and as editor of the Lutherische Kirchenzeitung

for almost the same period, Lehmann was most influential in accomodating

the German with the English wings of his church.53

Both German and English remained firmly with the University, but

always in unison with each other. Lehmann delivered addresses in German

and English; he arranged conferences to feature a speaker in German, then

one in English. Funds poured in for new buildings and the newspaper

prospered so well that from time to time profits could be siphoned off for

the University. There were laments as late as 1866 that English was being

slighted, but in fact spoken English was gaining steadily.54 Books for the

library were still solicited from German universities and the periodicals

remained largely German. There were two student societies, one for each

language group—Homonoia for the English element, and Germania (still in

existence), the latter organized in 1861 to cultivate an active German

language by sponsoring written compositions, debates and competitive

declamations. The Germania society also published a paper, Thalia, but

it later folded. Commencement programs featured student orations in

German and in English but under scrutiny, it seems clear that even with

Lehmann at the helm, the German language was fighting for its life.

After the death of Lehmann in 1880, the American born Mathias Loy

became president,55 and for a decade led the University along the paths

established by Lehmann. In 1894, F. W. Stellhorn, born in Germany and

professor of German and history at Capital, became president. As editor of

Kirchenzeitung and of Zeitblätter, Stellhorn was a representative of the

German-language supporters, but he was too much the realist to instigate

controversy over use of the German language. Directives from the Board

indicate that as late as 1900, " reports shall be furnished in German and

English,"56 but these old by-laws were no longer followed to the letter.

In fact, ferment about the language problem was aired in the Kirchen-

zeitung from time to time: "There has been terribly much complaint, both

about the German and the English instruction in our educational institu-

tions. The Germans complain it is too English, and the English complain

51

WB., Mar. 7, 1851. 52 Owens, 62. 53 See Owens, Chapter III, " The Lehmann Administration," 73 ff. 54 Owens, 104.

55

See Charles G. Fry, " Mathias Loy, Patriarch of German Lutheranism in Ohio," (unpubl. diss.

Ohio State Univ., 1965). 56 Owens, 131.

[ 2 8 ]

it is too German." " An indication of the outcome of the controversy is the

following action: On May 12, 1902, by an act of the General Assembly

of the State of Ohio, the name of the seminary was changed from "The

German Lutheran Seminary of the German Lutheran Synod of Ohio and

adjacent States," to the new title "The Theological Seminary of the

Evangelical Lutheran Joint Synod of Ohio and other States." 58 But that

did not automatically solve the language problem, particularly in the

University where continued insistence on the use of German in the class-

room and the prevailing view of the Synod that the University should

educate for the church and not for secular professions, severely retarded

progress. For a time the bickering continued but the eventual outcome of

the brooding was that in 1910, the Board officially discontinued the medium

of German for classroom instruction.59

Rear guard actions to save German proved to no avail. The cost of

supporting a dual language program contributed to the eventual demise of

German. Way back in 1845 the Synod had considered asking permission

of the King of Prussia to raise funds in his kingdom to endow a German

professorship at Capital.60 But nothing came of it. Again in 1899, the

Kirchenzeitung proposed a fund to endow a German professorship which

would allow one man "to devote his entire time to the German language

and literature, in general, by promoting the German with all his heart."61

It was argued that German was the receptacle of Lutheran theology, that

Germany was again the center of culture, and that every pastor should

know German. The original proposal was enacted in 1902 when it was

resolved that ten percent of the net profits of the Lutheran Book Concern

and all the net profits of the Kirchenzeitung should be used to endow the

German professorship at Capital University. The profits grew to a tidy

sum of money by 1909.62 But success came too late; for although the

money was put away and the endowment maintained, it has never been

used, going instead into the general endowment fund.

57

Sept. 8, 1906 as quoted in Owens, 145. 58 Willard D. Allback, .A Century of Lutherans in Ohio (Yellow Springs, Ohio, 1966), 279. 59 Owens,

145. For a larger picture of the German vs. English conflict within the Lutheran

Churches of Ohio, see Allbeck, A Century of Lutherans in Ohio. 60 Owens, 205. 61 Ibid., 161. 62Ibid., 162.

[ 2 9 ]

IV. THE CHURCHES

Second only to the German press and the enthusiastic German organi-

zations, the most influential institution in the German-American com-

munity was the church. Generally speaking this held true also for

Columbus, although the local German churches were not the cohesive force

that they were in many other German settlements. For many reasons it

is virtually impossible to delineate the labyrinthine history of Columbus'

early German churches. Many things contributed to obscuring the facts:

The German population was constantly in flux; whole colonies of Germans

were moving on; a restless poltical and economic spirit pervaded religious

spheres; churches sprang up overnight and vanished as quickly; experi-

mental sects, finding the local climate unfavorable, often moved on; some

churches altered their names with every shift in the wind; for example the

German Evangelical Church became the Evangelical Lutheran Church,

then the German Lutheran Church; the First German Protestant Church

seems to turn into the Independent Protestant Church. But if nothing

else can be said, one thing notable is that new names were often linked to

German-English language conflicts.

German-speaking Lutherans, mostly sons and grandsons of the pioneer

settlers of the Shenandoah Valley and Western Maryland, gathered for

German services several years prior to the formal organization of the first

Lutherische Gemeinde in 1821. This congregation resulted from the mission

efforts of Charles Henkel who also became the first pastor. Henkel came

from Virginia while the leading layman of the group was Christian Heyl

from Maryland.¹ Until 1840 the congregation used only German, but then

English was introduced for some services and soon it threatened to squeeze

out the German. The man directly responsible for this venture was the

Reverend Charles F. Schaeffer formerly of Hagerstown, Maryland. Schaef-

fer initiated English afternoon services and an English Sunday School.

Succeeding Schaeffer was the Reverend Konrad Mees who built St. Paul's

Church at Mound and High Streets. When agitation over languages con-

tinued in 1845 two new congregations were organized, one called Trinity

German Evangelical, and one called the First English Lutheran Church.²

Interestingly, it was the great compromiser at Capital University, Professor

William F. Lehmann who served for a time as pastor of both new churches.

Meanwhile the Reverend Konrad Mees continued as pastor of St. Paul's

and served for many years as leader in church and civic affairs.³ It seems

that the language controversy plagued most of the local Lutheran churches

although often the language was only the scapegoat for deeper theological

dissent. Of course, foreign tongues always create unfounded suspicions

1

Several letters written by David Henkel during the early days of Columbus are included in the

Henkel Family Papers which Klaus Wust has recently catalogued and prepared for microfilming by the

Alderman Library of the University of Virginia. See also Carolus Henkel, Eine Predigt über die

Kinderzucht, vielche gehalten wurde, in Columbus, Ohio, im Jahr unsers Herrn 1821 (New Market,

Va., 1822), a booklet of 20 pages. For a biographical sketch of Christian Heyl in English, see History

of Franklin and Pickaway Counties, Ohio (William Brothers, Publishers, 1880), 583. ² Lee, II, 695. See also Alexander Schem, Lexicon, III,

354-865 for a sketch of all the early

German churches in Columbus. ³Lee, II, 695-696. See also Hooper, 196 and Studer, 209.

[ 3 0 ]

Among those who do not comprehend them. Frequently caught in the

crossfire, the Westbote studiously held to its neutral position, reporting

church affairs from week to week without editorial comment.4

GERMAN LUTHERAN ST

. PAUL'S CHURCH

Whatever the exact cause, forty-eight members left St. Paul's in 1847

to join the Germans at Trinity Lutheran, making the Reverend Lehmann

their permanent pastor who remained at the helm for decades. St. Paul's

4

WB., July 81, 1846; Mar. 5, 1847; May 13, 1853.

[31 ]

at Mound and High burned in 1856 but was rebuilt within a year.5 Also

in 1856 Trinity Lutheran began construction of its church (still standing)

at Third and Fulton Streets.6 With the German professors from Capital

University serving frequently as pastors, the German Lutheran churches

prospered throughout the nineteenth century and remained essentially Ger-

man-speaking; Trinity Lutheran in 1866 opened a school which lasted only

two years, but later operated a successful parochial school for dozens of

years.

Numerous German protestants rejected the rites of the Lutheran Church.

As early as 1843 a group of these had organized the Independent Protestant

German Church.7 Its members experienced lean years until 1857, during

which time they had to lease their new church on Mound near Third to the

Trinity German Evangelical Lutheran congregation. The most prominent

pastor of the Independent German Protestant Church was the Reverend

Christian Heddaeus.8 From the first, female members were admitted an

equal voice in this church's affairs, and at an early date, the theory of

evolutionary creation was taught by its pastor Edward Graf.9

St. John's German Protestant Evangelical Church sprang up in 1872

when the two established German Lutheran churches refused to keep mem-

bers who belonged to secret societies. Leaving the Lutherans, these Chris-

tians built their own structure at 59 East Mound Street and continue

today under the name of St. John's Evangelical Protestant Church.10 The

German Emmanuel Church, organized in 1857 and located on South Third

Street, seems to vanish from history. More is known about the German

Methodist Church. Organized in 1843, it took the members only one year

to complete their brick church at Third and Livingston. When their new

building was completed in 1872, William Nast, the father of German

Methodism, spoke at the dedication ceremonies, preaching both in English

and in German.11 Another church apparently belonging to the United

Brethren in Christ and simply listed as 'the German Church' was organ-

ized in 1868 and located south of Main Street east of Seventh. In 1872

it had some twenty-five members and about fifty pupils in the Sunday

school.12

Since large numbers of German immigrants in Columbus had come

from the Rhine territories and from Bavaria, they included many Catholics

—some estimates run as high as one half.13 These Catholics in Columbus

first held services in the home of Henry Nadenbusch. By 1833 there were

sixteen Germans among the original twenty-one members.14 More formal

worship began in 1837 when the Reverend Henry Damien Juncker arrived

5

WB., Dec. 10, 1857 tells of the dedication of the new structure. 6 For a sketch and brief history of this church see Bill Arter, 61. 7 Hooper, 203.

8

Christian Heddaeus was born in 1829 near Worms, Germany, studied theology at the University

of Tubingen and later became a tutor for the children of civil officers at the court of the Grand Duchy

of Hesse. He arrived in the United States in 1857 spending some time in Pennsylvania before coming

to Columbus in 1866. His wife née Kuder was born near Heilbronn but had come to this country at

the age of ten. See biographical sketch in Lee, II, 830-831. In an interview with Monsignor Edmund

A. Burkley, present pastor of St. Mary's Catholic Church, I learned that Father Burkley's parents

came to Columbus from rural Baden-Württemberg and that their name was once Bürkle. The 87 year

old Father Burkley spoke a high grade of German which he learned in South Columbus. A priest for

over sixty-two years (all spent at St. Mary's, his home parish) he spoke of referring as a child to the

Protestant Churches, not by their names, but as Heddaeus' Church, or Mees' Church, etc. 9 See WB., April 16, 1891 which reports on the

twenty-fifth anniversary of the church. See also

Lee, II, 709. 10 Studer, 211-212. See also Souvenir Booklet, " St. John's Evangelical Protestant Church,

Columbus, Ohio " Anniversary 1872-1947. The pastors of this church (German title: Deutsche

Evangelische Protestantische St. Johannes Gemeinde) were W. E. Purpus 1872-1879, J. J. Weiss

1879-1885, J. Ackermann 1885-1896, J. Pister 1897-1911 who in 1909 introduced a morning English

service to be conducted once a month. 11 Lee, I, 282. See also Carl Wittke, William Nast: Patriarch of German Methodism (Detroit,

1959 . 12 Studer, 214. 13See Sittler, 39. 14Taylor, 196.

[32]

with the assignment to build a stone church. For the next few years,

traveling priests served the parish because Father Juncker had to return

to his flock in Chillicothe.15 On February 25, 1843 Father William Schonat,

having just arrived from Silesia, became the first permanent pastor. One

year later he announced the need for a larger church and gave it the

titular designation, Holy Cross. It took a decade to complete the new

structure on the corner of Rich and Fifth, but since its dedication in

1853 16 little has changed and it still stands today. Meantime in 1843 the

old stone church was converted into a two room schoolhouse and sisters

arrived to teach. Holy Cross, the mother of all Catholic life in Columbus,

had pastors who were exclusively German until 1877, and all of them had

been of German birth.17 The second Catholic Church in Columbus was

St. Patrick's which began in 1852 and comprised about one fourth of the

original membership of Holy Cross, essentially the Irish sector.

Until Columbus became a diocese in 1868, it had been served by the

Bishop of Cincinnati. Judging from the names of chancery officials, the

new episcopal see was immediately dominated by the Irish element. Like-

wise, the Cathedral parish, St. Joseph's, had one Irish pastor after another,

primarily because the parishioners were the Irish spill-over from St.

Patrick's parish. Only Bishop Sylvester H. Rosecrans had a Germanic

background but as a born American he was more at home with the Irish

Catholics than the Germans.18

What happened to the Irish of St. Patrick's happened two years earlier

in 1866 to the Germans of Holy Cross. The first division of Holy Cross

to form St. Patrick's was thought necessary because it facilitated worship

for the English-speaking members. The second split was more a cellular

multiplication. As Holy Cross grew beyond capacity in 1863, the German

Catholics in South Columbus made a plea for their own church in a more

convenient location. Their wishes were granted when a committee met to

consider plans to build a Catholic school somewhere in the southern part

of the city.19 The man put in charge of this building program was Father

Francis X. Specht, an assistant at Holy Cross. Father Specht, born in

Osnabrück, Germany in 1840 had come to the United States in 1857 and

had seen his own labors come to fruition in the new school on the south

side in 1865. Immediately Catholics used one room of the school for masses

on Sunday and early the next year, began construction of a church. One

of the first acts of the new bishop in 1868 was to make the new church

independent of Holy Cross, calling it St. Mary's and making Father

Specht its first pastor. At the dedication ceremonies on November 29, 1868

Catholics from all over central Ohio gathered to march in procession from

Holy Cross down to the new parish where Bishop Rosecrans offered the

mass.20

Located in the heart of the German element in Columbus, St. Mary's

15

See La Vern J. Rippley, " The Chillicothe Germans," Ohio History, LXXV (1966), 218. 16WB., Sept. 8, 1858. 17Taylor, 200. 18 Bishop

Rosecrans was born in Ohio of parents who in 1808 emigrated to the United States

from Amsterdam, originally spelling their name Rosenkrantz. Young Sylvester was first a Methodist,

studied at Kenyon College, and after becoming a convert to Catholicism, studied under the Jesuits

at Fordham. Bishop Purcell of Cincinnati sent him to Rome where he completed his studies for the

priesthood, receiving while there his doctorate in divinity in 1852. Before assuming his duties in

Columbus, he served as president of the Cincinnati Catholic Seminary and later as Coadjutor Bishop

of that diocese. See biographical sketch in Lee, II, 654-665. 19" St. Mary's Parish, Columbus, Ohio Centennial 1885-1965," 22. See also Lee, II,

647. The

members of that original committee were the pastor of Holy Cross, Father J. B. Hemsteger, Louis

Zettler, Peter Hinterschitt, John Ranft, Frederick Weber, Frank Wagner, Peter Boehm and Cornelius

Lang. 20 Ibid., 28. Now over one hundred years old St. Mary's Church still stands. Gothic in style, it

forms one of the impressive landmarks of today's ' German Village ' section of Columbus. Likewise

the 1865 school behind the church is still in use. Its corner stone reads " Katholische St. Mariensohule

1865."

[ 3 3 ]

was immediately a large parish and prosperous. By 1872 it had built a

huge rectory which still stands and more than 250 pupils attended its

parochial school annually. Until 1913, Father Specht remained pastor of

the parish. In 1855, however, he was appointed to serve also as Vicar

General of the diocese,21 and was subsequently assisted at the parish by

other priests, mostly, but not exclusively German. When Father Specht

died in 1913, the bishop delivered a sermon in English and Father Rhode

preached in German. Following Father Specht as pastor was Father Joseph

M. Wehrle. Already in 1905 Father Edmund A. Burkley (Bürkle) himself

a son of the parish, began his priestly career as assistant pastor at St.

Mary's. When Father Wehrle died in 1924, Father Burkley became head

pastor and continues in that position today, a fascinating link to the

Germans who inhabited Columbus before the turn of the century.22

The story of German Catholicism in Columbus would not be complete

without mention of Father Joseph Jessing and the Ohio Waisenfreund,

a journal he founded and edited for many years. Born in Münster, West-

phalia, in 1836, Joseph Jessing attended German schools before enlisting

in the Prussian Army. In the war against Denmark, he gained distinction

as a sergeant who took part in the successful bombardment of Düppel on

April 18, 1864; for his bravery he was decorated by King Wilhelm of

Prussia. Retiring to his home, he was recalled to military service in the

Austro-Prussian War of 1866. After the war he decided to emigrate to the

United States and to study for the priesthood. Landing at Baltimore on

July 27, 1867 he went immediately to St. Mary's Seminary in Cincinnati.

Ordained a priest by Bishop Rosecrans in 1870, Father Jessing was sent

to Sacred Heart Parish in Pomeroy, Ohio.23

Having served as a regular correspondent from the front and for several

years as an editor in Germany, Father Jessing was a natural to undertake

the publication of a religious paper of his own, the Ohio Waisenfreund.

His original objective was to found an orphanage and he started the paper

as a means of earning the necessary funds. Beginning May 1, 1873 the

first issue of the paper came off the hand press, entitled simply Ohio, a

name which was soon lengthened to its present title. So successful was

the paper that by 1875 Father Jessing had already purchased a house to

serve as the orphanage. Only two years later, at the request of Bishop

Rosecrans, Father Jessing moved the Orphanage to East Main Street in

Columbus.

The Waisenfreund's circulation grew extending beyond the borders of

Ohio and even beyond those of the United States. In later years the

original orphanage was renamed Josephinum. In 1888 the Josephinum

became also a college for the priestly education of German-American stu-

dents who lacked money to study in another seminary. Today the seminary

is no longer limited to students with a German background. In 1895 it

came under direct papal tutelage and received its present title "The

Pontificial College, Josephinum" the only such college in North America

and one of only three in the world. In 1931 the College moved from East

Main Street eleven miles north to spacious grounds on Highway 23 in the

northern sector of the City of Worthington.24

German-Jewish life in the City of Columbus dates back to 1838 when

21

It is interesting to note that Fr. Specht's predecessor in that office had been Fr. John B.

Hemsteger, formerly pastor of the other German Church, Holy Cross. Father Hemsteger had been born

in Westphalia in 1827 and attended the seminary in Cincinnati. He became Vicar General in 1868

Lee, II, 642.

22

Ibid., 26. In 1914 Father Wehrle started a parish high school which also continues today. Father

Burkley granted the author an interview which filled many gaps in source material.

23

See " Biographical Sketch of Joseph Jessing " in Lee, II,

828-829. 24 The complete set of the Waisenfreund is available at the College Library.

[ 3 4 ]

several Jewish families settled in Columbus. But no congregation was

organized until 1851 when the orthodox society, B'nai Jeshuren, began

with Simon Lazarus serving as rabbi.25 Simon Lazarus immigrated to the

United States in 1851. Born near Nuremberg in Bavaria, he had studied

to become a rabbi but later founded a clothing store instead. Forty-four

years old when he arrived in Columbus, Simon Lazarus immediately began

a similar clothing store on High Street south of Town—the site where

today's huge department store stands.26

SIMON LAZARUS

At first Jewish meetings were held above the Twin Brothers—Gunder-

sheim—Clothing Store and in other rented halls. The congregation had to

grope its way through its first two decades. But in 1870 with local contri-

butions and heavy support from the Eastern States, a temple was erected

at Main and Third Streets. The construction was supervised by the

25

Hooper, 216-217 and Studer, 216-219. 26 In a personal letter to the author, Robert Lazarus Sr. explained that Simon Lazarus had two

sons: Fred (born in Germany and brought to America at the age of one, the father of Robert

Lazarus Sr.) and Ralph who helped their father Simon until his death in 1877. Ralph was a bachelor

but Fred had four sons: Simon, Fred Jr., Jeffry and Robert who carried on the store. The younger

Simon became president when Fred died in 1917. When Simon died in 1947, Robert took over, while

Fred Jr. moved to Cincinnati in 1946 to head the Federated Department Stores. Jeffrey has just

retired as Executive Officer of Shillito's in Cincinnati. Robert continues as Chief Executive of the

Columbus store. See also biographical sketches of Fred Lazarus in Hooper, 341 ff. and Taylor, 574-575.

[35 ]

Gundersheimer brothers and by Rabbi Goodman. At the dedication cere-

monies several German societies participated and the Männerchor seems

to have played a significant role. When the new structure was nearing

completion, the members invited Dr. J. Wechsler of Nashville to become

rabbi. To accept, Wechsler turned down a more lucrative offer from Selma,

Alabama. The original temple served the community for thirty years until

1905 when a larger one was built on Bryden Road near Eighteenth Street.27

The early Jewish congregation was entirely German and the list of

rabbis shows that it continued to be German for a long time. Two promi-

nent ones who held long tenures after J. Wechsler were David Klein and

Joseph Kornfeld. Official records of the Jewish community, the so-called

Protokoll Buch, were kept in German until the year 1879 when English

was adopted.28 For the most part services were in Hebrew. Other Jewish

Groups included the Beth Jacob, composed of Russian-German Jews most

of whom had emigrated from Germany to South Russia under Catherine

the Great but came to America around 1890. Throughout their Russian

sojourn and for a time in America, these Jews continued to use German

in their records. This community had its synagogue on Washington Avenue,

in the heart of the German settlement of South Columbus.29

27

In 1961 this temple became the A. M. E. Zion Church and was renamed Caldwell Temple. 28 The Columbus Dispatch Magazine, May 14,

1967 features an article on the Jewish Cemetery

on Mount Calvary Avenue which contains stones with German, Hebrew, and English inscriptions.

According to Studer, 223, the Jews had purchased a plot somewhere else but Studer notes that it

lay within the city limits and a city ordinance forbade burials within the corporation limits. The Jewish

people advertised in the German papers for a more suitable plot hi 1872, apparently without success.

However, in about 1878 entries in the records tell of laying out lots in a newly purchased area with

fences conforming to the Catholic Mount Calvary Cemetery. This plot was used until about 1894

when arrangements were completed for Jews to be buried in Green Lawn Cemetery. Between then

and 1935 the little cemetery on Mount Calvary had faded from memory. Studer also notes on p. 226

that the East Grave Yard on East Livingston " was formerly used as a public burying place, principally

by Germans but of late years [publication date 1873] only for the burial of the very poor, the

friendless, and public paupers." The Jewish records show that in 1872 the removal of bodies from

this East Graveyard was authorized at congregational expense. An 1865 map of Columbus indeed

shows this cemetery on East Livingston, the northern portion of which is labeled "Jewish Cemetery."

Presently the site is covered by Children's Hospital. See also William T. Martin, History of Franklin

County, 392.

" Hooper, 217.

[ 3 6 ]

V. POLITICS

A discussion of the Columbus Germans and politics must start with

a few general facts: The City of Columbus increased its population enorm-

ously between 1840 and 1850, from 6,048 to 17,871. During the following

decade, however, the population remained almost constant. Continuing

as a city of about 18,000 for a solid decade, Columbus suffered an economic

recession, for which foreigners were implicated. Before 1850, more than

thirty annexations were necessary to accommodate the increases. Highways

were plotted and plank roads built. The Feeder Canal linked Columbus

to major waterways. Railroads converged on the downtown from outlying

points in the country. But the Gold Rush of 1849 changed matters and

Columbus became overnight little more than a transportation point on the

National Road. As such it was eclipsed as a population center. Even

settlers who had planned to stay suddenly felt the lure of fortune and

moved on. For these and other reasons the Columbus Germans never

shared in the political and other fruits of the German Forty-eighters.

The pre-1848 German immigrants were not bursting with interest in

political matters, indeed, in their mother country there was little oppor-

tunity to participate. Furthermore, most in this earlier group were poorer

and less well educated. As a result they were content to be left alone to

dwell among their countrymen, if only they could make a living and retain

their cherished Old-World patterns of living. When the opinionated Ger-

man intellectuals were forced out of Germany by the unsuccessful revolu-

tions of 1848, they stormed America with their ideas leaving clouds of dust

wherever they went. These Forty-eighters often set themselves up as

authorities aggressively criticizing their compatriots of earlier immigrations

with such epithets as Stimmvieh (animals that followed a leader like

cattle).¹

For the most part the Forty-eighters passed right through Columbus.

By and large they preferred larger cities and Columbus was not growing.

Consequently the Germans of Columbus remained more Grays (the pre-

revolutionary German immigrants) than Greens (post-revolutionary, espe-

cially the new intellectuals). The only noteworthy Forty-eighter to come to

Columbus was Otto Dresel who arrived in 1853. Like his co-refugees

he took an active part in politics, was elected a member of the Ohio

Legislature and superintendent of schools.² Unlike his co-refugees of 1848,

however, he was not a Republican but a staunch Democrat. He stumped

for Douglas against Lincoln and was often the object of attacks, especially

during the Civil War.

Generally the older immigrants were supposed to be Democratic and

it was considered down right heretical to be Whig. Before 1850 it was the

1

For a discussion of the Forty-eighters in American politics see Lawrence S. Thompson and

Frank X. Braun, " The Forty-Eighters in Politics" in Zucker, The Forty-Eighters, 111-166. ²See biographical sketch of Otto Dresel in Zucker,

The Forty-Eightera, 289-290. See also "Otto

Dresel" in Der deutache Pioneer, XIII (1881-1882), 411-419, 482-490. Besides his contribution

to public life Dresel was well known for his musical talent and for his poetry and novels, some of

which were serialized in the Westbote. After a long stay in Columbus Dresel fell victim to a lingering

illness. In a deep depression he took his own life with a pistol on January 6, 1881.

[ 3 7 ]

unwritten rule of all immigrants to flock to the " friendly " Democratic

Party, and the Columbus Germans did so passionately: "A coon-skin

could go through the eye of a needle more easily than the mass of the

Germans in Franklin County could go over to the Whig Party. . . ."³

It was the influx of Germans into Columbus that pushed the Whig Party

to the brink of collapse: " The Whig majority has diminished from elec-

tion to election largely because of the German vote. . . ."4 From its first

issue in 1843 and for more than seventy years the Westbote remained

outspokenly Democratic. Early in its career it had become actively involved

for the Democrats by founding the Hickory Club of Franklin County.5

In 1844 the Columbus Germans rallied to the slogan, "with Polk,

Dallas, and Tod; against Clay, Nativism, and Whigery,"6 to produce the

notable Democratic victory.7 Astonishing Democratic triumphs in local

elections caused the Germans to be ardently courted in the 1848 presi-

dential campaign. One year later the Democrats took control of both

houses of the Ohio Legislature electing forty members, five of which were

German.8 In 1850 they elected the first Democratic Governor since 1842.9

When General Winfield Scott visited Columbus on September 23, 1852

as the unsuccessful Whig candidate for president, he became a welcome

target for the Democratic campaign. "The weak, poorly-organized proces-

sion that straggled down High Street was taken as a sign of the disintegra-

tion of the local Whig Party." 10 The Westbote subsequently printed letters,

supposedly written by German soldiers who had served under Scott, which

indicted him for maltreatment and prejudice against foreigners.11 After

such taunts, needless to say, the victory of Franklin Pierce did nothing to

quell the growth of Nativism in Columbus. Two years later in. 1854 the

German vote solidified even more to elect Jacob Reinhard (editor of the

Westbote) to the City Council after a unanimous nomination by the fifth,

the German ward.12

The 1856 presidential campaign saw a proud display of hickory poles

in front of many a German home and when the Westbote erected theirs

on August 8, Gutmann's band played, speeches were applauded and a

Democratic banner was proudly unfurled atop the pole.13 During the heat

of the campaign two Democratic meetings brought out German bands and

citizens who occupied places of honor behind the Democratic Committee.

German breweries contributed heavily and German voters cast ballots

eight to one for Buchanan.14 When depression struck in 1857, the Westbote

charged: "Our credit is in the hands of the Republican fakers, our stocks

have fallen twenty percent, our treasury is empty, and our businessmen

have lost confidence in the state. . . ."15 When Germans from Cincinnati

were attending an 1858 Republican convention in Columbus, several

casually joined members of the Männerchor in a tavern after rehearsal.

The visitors suggested that the group go to serenade the Republican Gover-

3

WB.. Oct. 19, 1848. 4WB., Oct. 18, 1843. 5WB., Nov. 2, 9, 19, 1848. 6 WB., June 7, 1844. Doggerels in the German paper read: "Clay, O Weh! Coon

wie dumm!

Niehr Rumm! " 7WB., Nov. 15, 1844. 8WB., Dec. 7, 1849. 9WB., Oct. 11, 1850. 10 WB., Sept. 24, 1852. 11 WB., Oct. 22, 1852. 12 WB., Mar. 24, 1854. 13

WB., Aug. 1, 8, 1856, Oct. 31, 1856. 14 WB., Nov. 7, 1856. At one time there were seven breweries in Columbus, which provided work

for many South-Side Germans. When prohibition bankrupted these industries the Germans left the

South Side in droves. Migratory citizens moved into the large old homes and absentee landlords

allowed the area to decay. The "German Village Society" now supervises the restoration of this

area. 15 WB., Oct. 9, 1857.

[ 3 8 ]

nor Salmon P. Chase. In a flash, a Columbus singer proclaimed: " Gentle-

men, if you think that the members of the Männerchor will permit them-

selves to be used as political tools you have been sadly misinformed. We

are Democrats, and if you are convinced that we will sell our political

convictions for a glass of beer, your stupidity is lamentable." 16

Abraham Lincoln, though recognized by the Columbus Germans after

proving himself in the fight, was at first despised, "Who is this Lincoln

anyway? Lincoln springs and jumps like a young cat. . . . He places him-

self before the calm figure of Douglas and talks at him for hours at a time

gesturing wildly in his face—so near he could gouge an eye out with his

long pointed fingers."17 Douglas spoke in Columbus in 1859 with little

reference to the German vote, and the 1860 campaign was rather quiet.

Carl Schurz also spoke and the Westbote regretted that such a talented

man would support the Republican Party remarking that Schurz was,

however, no longer German and that he lacked "the philosophical spirit

of a good German lecturer."18 When Douglas appeared for a rally in

October, thousands of Germans marched under the motto " Germans by

birth, Americans by choice, Democrats by principle."19 But although the

Germans voted Democratic, they received Lincoln when he stopped on

his way to Washington, with the full fanfare of bands and choirs usually

accorded only to Democratic celebrities.20 And when the editor of the

German paper in Toledo recommended dividing the United States to make

the north a German state, and the south a yankee English establishment,

the Westbote countered that such an idea was unsound and would be

regrettable.21

Despite the posthumous popularity of Lincoln, he never enjoyed much

support from the Germans in Columbus. In 1864, amidst extensive report-

ing on the war and solid support for the war effort among the Germans, the

Westbote cheered the nomination of General George B. McClellan on the

Democratic ticket. Begging their readers to do their part, the editors wrote

"German citizens of Ohio, . . . . our country has suffered long enough

under the party which has brought so much misfortune to our land. A

victory for [the Republicans] would put the last nail in the coffin of freedom.

Don't rest until the last vote of every Lincoln opponent has been tallied.

Lincoln's policy has been destructive of people and country."22 When

Lincoln won anyway, the Germans took consolation in the fact that

Columbus and Franklin County went Democratic.

Four years later, after an outpouring of grief for the assassinated Lin-

coln, the German editors confessed that they were about to support the

popular General Ulysses S. Grant for election in 1868, admitting that their

real goal was to get a Democratic majority in the House. At the last

minute, however, they charged that Grant was in the hands of evil men

with far greater intelligence than his own, and that they were, therefore,

casting their support to Horatio Seymour, the Democratic candidate.23

Praising local Germans for good attendance at the Columbus State House

for Democratic rallies, the paper urged them to vote a straight Democratic

ticket. Emil Rothe, Forty-eighter and Wisconsin journalist, appeared to

speak on behalf of the Democratic Party, but when even that did not carry

16

WB. July 22, 1858. 17WB. Sept. 2, 1858. 18 WB. Mar. 22, 1860. 19WB. Oct. 4, 1860. 20WB. Feb. 21, 1861. 21 WB. Dec. 18, 1860.

22

WB. Oct. 6, 1864. We must correct Arndt-Olson, 477, who report that the Westbote was

Republican from 1860-79. 23WB., Sept. 10, 1868.

[ 3 9 ]

the day, the Westbote again rejoiced that at least the Democrats achieved

a 600 vote majority in Franklin County 24 and when Grant was swept

into office, the blame was laid at the feet of those who did not vote.

The year 1871 witnessed the great German peace festival of May 1

when the German victory in the Franco-Prussian War promised a period

of ascendency for Germans all over the world. To the Columbus Germans,

the victory signalled a triumph of German culture and a long reign of

peace in the world. Public opinion in the United States had for years

considered Napoleon III the trouble maker of Europe. Now that he was

eliminated, many, including those not always in agreement with the policies

of Bismarck, felt a relaxation of world tensions.

DEUTSCHES GASTHAUS UM

1870

On the morning of May 1, artillery salutes awakened the city early

in the morning, German flags waved in front of German homes and a large

wheel showing the German national colors revolved in front of Ambos

Hall.25 A triple arch of honor was erected at the entrance to City Park

where later in the day a large "Peaceful Oak Tree" was brought in a

special procession led by the Hemmersbach band and planted as a memorial

to peace. The parade which moved through the streets to the park dis-

played such units as a wagon drawn by six white horses each led by a

page. Banners on coaches read "Peaceful Germania." One float carried a

large figure of the German emperor on a throne where he was flanked

24

WB., Oct. 16, 1868.

25

See WB., May 4, 11, 1871. Columbus Dispatch, May 1, 1871. See also Studer, 94, The

grand marshall of the parade was Dr. O. Zirkel who rode in a Prussian Husar's uniform. Speeches

were given by Heinrich Olnhausen J. H. Heitmann, Pastor Heddaeus and Dr. Wirth as well as

others. In the evening the Thalia Verein and the Turners gave the Zar und Zimmermann production.

Many houses had inscriptions mounted on placards—for example above the Strödter's Männerchor

Hall

Ein einzig Deutschland, stark und frei,

Von Vierzig Millionen,

1st heute unser Feldgeschrei

Und Friede den Nationen.

But the Forty-Eighter, Otto Dresel posted the following:

Ein einzig starkes Deutschland! Schall es heute,

Aus tausend deutschen Kehlen weit und breit,

Kein Preussen, Sachsen, Bayern!

Schon recht! Nur wiinsch ich, dass in kurzer Zeit

Wir neben Kaiserreich und Einigkeit

Auch Deutschlands Freiheit feiern.

[ 4 0 ]

by maidens representing peace and liberty. Other units honored notable

German contributors to civilization: Johannes Kepler, Albrecht Dürer,

Johannes Gutenberg, the Fugger Family, the Rothschild Family and others.

In 1872 the Democrats regained new life, turning out 2,000 marchers

with torch lights and three cavalry companies to rally to the cause of

Horace Greely.28 Ulysses S. Grant, the Germans felt, was "the friend and

protector of a corrupt army of officials" whereas "Greeley had all his life

been a friend of the worker." When Grant won despite their efforts, the

editors charged Grant followers with stealing ballot boxes even though

Columbus went for Greeley by nearly one thousand votes.27

The 1876 Republican Convention was reported broadly in the Westbote

primarily because Governor Rutherford B. Hayes of Ohio was nominated.

But it was Samuel J. Tilden, the Democratic nominee, whom the paper

supported. On October 7, there was a mass Democratic parade of over

2,000 torch bearers, 500 men on horseback carrying Chinese lanterns, and

a gathering of about 8,000 to hear speeches from the steps of the Capitol.

When Hayes carried Ohio despite these displays, the Germans cried victory

because the Republican majority in the state was held to a mere 6,000 votes

instead of the minimum majority of 40,000 which had been predicted.28

Similar rallies for Winfield S. Hancock in 1880, with their mile-long pro-

cessions, could not turn the Republican tide, and when James A. Garfield

captured the White House, the Columbus Germans ignored the fact by

boasting of the handy Democratic win in Franklin County.29 Finally

achieving a Democratic presidential victory with Grover Cleveland in

1884, the Westbote was quite ecstatic. To be sure, Ohio had voted Republi-

can by some 11,000 votes but Franklin County was safely Democratic

and the German paper covered the front page with a rooster crowing for

Cleveland.30

The year 1888 brought jubilation when Columbus Senator Alien G.

Thurman was nominated for Vice-President. The campaign was rather

uninspiring, however, and much interest was diverted from politics by the

Ohio Centennial Exposition, and by the Columbus encampment of the

Grand Army veterans. Both events occupied the month of September

when some 70,000 veterans and 173 musical units massed to compete for

the attention of the news media. Therefore, when Benjamin Harrison

won, the Westbote simply remarked that the Democrats would easily

survive, and focused instead on the fanatical temperance advocates who

were linked with the Republican Party.31 There was also another reason

for slackened enthusiasm in politics: the year 1888 marks the first major

election covered by the Westbote under new editorship. In 1884 the

indefatiguable Jacob Reinhard and Friedrich Fieser had turned over the

reins to Jacob's son Henry. Under Henry Reinhard the opinionated

editorial views of an older school and a former generation were definitely

absent from the paper.

For the first time in 1892 the Westbote printed a ballot facsimile to

explain to its constituency the mechanics of voting. Needless to say, it

printed only a Democratic ballot showing the names of Grover Cleveland

for president and Adlai E. Stevenson for Vice-President. When the results

were in, showing that Columbus had voted Democratic by a slim ninety-five

votes and that Ohio had gone Republican by over 23,000, the editors

composed a long poem in German singing the virtues of Grover Cleveland.32

26

WB., Sept. 12, 28, 1872. 30WB., Nov. 6, 1884, Oct. 23, 1884. 27WB., Nov. 16, 1872. 31 WB., June

12, Sept. 20, Nov. 8, 1888. 28WB., June 22, 1876, Oct. 12, 19, 1876. 32WB., Oct. 18, Nov. 10. 17,

1882 29WB., Sept. 16, Oct. 21, Nov. 11, 1880.

[41 ]

In 1896 the Westbote pleaded with its readers to vote a straight Demo-

cratic ticket, regardless of their feelings about free silver. But when

William McKinley dragged the Republicans of Franklin County to victory

MAYOR GEORGE

J. KARB, 1891-1895

First German Mayor of Columbus

on his coat tails, defeat was readily admitted. The editor explained that

the nonsense of free silver had confused the voters.33 The re-election of

McKinley in 1900 created little stirring. However, in its election issue

the Columbus Express dwelt on the great power wielded by the Germans

33

WB., Oct. 80, Nov. 3, 6, 1896.

[ 4 2 ]

in metropolitan centers where they numbered over 100,000. The columnist

pointed out that in the United States the Germans totaled over ten million

or eighteen percent of the population and that they were therefore a definite

force with which politicians had to reckon.34

The overwhelming majority for Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 evoked

little comment. It was passively reported that Roosevelt's 11,000 majority

in Franklin County put the President 1,000 votes ahead of the local Republi-

can ticket, and only the City of Columbus itself went Democratic.35 By

1908 the German editorials were still recommending a Democratic ticket,

but in the same issues they were running article after article on the former

achievements of Germans in America. Their positions in politics and

their contributions to the Civil War were popular topics. Between the

lines of these articles one can read the telling fact that the Germans were

on the wane as a powerful autonomous block in American political life.

In the German papers of Columbus this gradual shift in approach is

definitely visible between 1904 and 1908. When in 1908 Ohio elected

Judson Harmon its new Democratic Governor by a 26,000 vote majority,

the editor splashed a big eagle across the front page headlining "Harmon

and Liberality Win in Ohio." Cheers went up that the Germans of Ohio

had withstood their trial by fire. The national event that Republican

William H. Taft, also an Ohioan, won the Presidency, appeared only on

the second page.36

During the summer of 1912 the Westbote continued to predict the

defeat of President Taft but it was slow in warming up to Woodrow Wilson.

Complying with the trend noticed in all German-American papers around

the turn of the century, the German press in Columbus continued to shun

bold positions in politics. Late in August, the Democratic Party was

shunted from the spotlight by reports on the Twelfth Sängerfest of the

North American Sängerbund, and more articles praising the greatness of

older German immigrants.

The Balkan War and Turkish movements in that area snatched the

center stage. Editors of the Columbus German papers were beginning on

the one hand to arouse in their German readers an interest in world affairs,

and on the other, to evoke a nostalgia for their ethnic past. The Germans

had had a distinguished history as a distinct immigrant group which now

began to lose its own identity. Gradually they were becoming indis-

tinguishable.

Finally, after nearly seventy years of vigorous support for the Demo-

cratic Party, the editors of the Westbote announced on October 29, 1912

that "we have reached the point where we now place party on the sidelines

and have our eyes open only for the common good of the country. For

this reason we are for James M. Cox for Governor of Ohio, not because

he is a Democrat, but because we think his platform is the correct one and

because Cox has always been a man of honor and keeps his word. We

believe in the rule of the people by the people. . . . No longer do we urge

you to vote for a party but for men only."37 When both Wilson and Cox

won, the paper pronounced that " the people have voted for men, not for

parties."38

During the First World War the Germans of Columbus were at first

quick to swallow the German explanation about the causes of the war.

As German-Americans they realized early that the British propaganda

34

Columbus Express, Nov. 10, 1900. 35WB., Nov. 11, 1904. 36WB., Oct. 2, 1908, Nov. 6, 1908, 37WB.. June 21, 1912; Aug. 30; Oct. 8, 22, 29,

1912. 38WB., Nov. 8, 1912.

[ 4 3 ]

machine was responsible for partiality in the American press. In Columbus

there were still about seven thousand German and Austrian immigrants

when the war broke out. More lived in Franklin County and tens of

SCHILLERPARK

thousands more were of German stock. Mostly these citizens had been

Americanized. As such they bothered less about German victories in Europe

than about social freedom and economic opportunities at home. Thus,

absorption into the mainstream of America was already a fait accompli

by the time the pressure against the Germans in America began to build

[ 4 4 ]

up. As for the reaction of Ohio's German-Americans during World War I,

this story has been competently told by Carl Wittke and others.39

The Columbus Honor Roll for the First World War includes among the

dead a significant number of German names, some of which can be found

in the early annals of Columbus history.40 But on the home front Germans

were maligned and the charges of sabotage were multiplied. The study

of German in the public schools was banished and former teachers of

German were kept under the strictest surveillance. Proof of allegedly

disloyal utterances resulted in speedy discipline or removal, regardless of

previous services. On April 19, 1918 lighted woodpiles were provided on

East Broad Street where citizens were to bring their German books to be

burned. Reserve Guards stood by to prevent violence. In Schiller Park

German-bred dogs were slaughtered and more books were burned at the

foot of the Schiller statue. The Board of Education sold its German text-

books for fifty cents a hundred weight with the restriction that they be

used only for pulp—a venture that netted some $400. The City Council

changed the name of Schiller Park to Washington Park, Germania Park to

Mohawk Park.41 Streets formerly called Schiller, Germania, Kaiser, and

Bismarck became Whittier, Steward, Lear, and Lansing respectively. Peti-

tions for name changes were countless and few organizations resisted or

protested. The Order of Druids as well as certain Protestant and Catholic

Churches, which had been using the German language in rituals for over

seventy years, substituted English posthaste. Summing up the frenzy best

was the First German Methodist Church which switched its name to First

Zion Methodist and erected a tablet with the inscription: "We stand

for God and Christ, Our Country and Flag, Humanity and Democracy." 42

By the time the furor abated, the German element as a separate entity

in Columbus had all but vanished. Delineating an identifiable German

population after World War I, proves as impossible as bagging fog. Where

you think you see it thickest, it eludes you fastest. Today's Columbus

Germans are a mere wisp of a once substantial and cohesive element. They

have bceome "Americans of German descent" in a community whose

older inhabitants are still amazingly aware of the influence German

immigrants exerted on the growth of their city.

The illustrations were made by

DONALD

L. DODRILL of Columbus, Ohio.

39

Carl Wittke, German-Americans and the World War; With Special Emphasis on Ohio's

German-Language Press (Columbus, 1936); see also Alice Good, " Anti-German Sentiment in Ohio

during the World War " (unpubl. M. A. Thesis, Ohio State Univ., 1935); Carl Wittke, " Ohio's German

Language Press and the Peace Negotiations," The Ohio Archeological and Historical Quarterly, XXIX

(1929), 49-79.—For the impact of the World War on the Germans in Baltimore see Dieter Cunz,

The Maryland Germans (Princeton, 1948), 895-402. 40 See Hooper, 95. We mention only a few names: Eichenlaub, Flesher, Herbst, Bauer,

Bieder-

man, Graessle, Kaiser, Reieheneder, Eberst, Rosenbaum, Reinhard, Seltzer, Wolfersberger, Zimmermann,

Schaible and others. 41 The name Schiller was returned to the Park in 1956. Mohawk has now become Beck Square. 42Hooper, 83.

[ 45 ]