of
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| History of Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume I, 1911, pages 277-278
GERMAN SOCIETIES. The first German society was the "Muscatine Turnverein." It was originally organized July 12, 1856. The original membership was as follows: Frederick Tappe, Peter Schorr, Henry Fiene, Henry Clarner, C. Kranz, T. Ulrich, J. Dold, Joseph Koeberle, Jacob Lorenz, Anton Brenner, H. Schmidt, Frederick Eitmann, John Butz, Karl Kleine, Henry Geiss, Charles Stegemann, Ferdinand Bernhardt, Hyman Salomon, Ephraim Hecht, Ferdinand Schmalz, John G. Hoehl, George Schneider, Joseph Bauerbach, John Stortz, P. F. Mueller, C. A. Buescher, Henry Kautz, August Rehbein, Franz Koehler, Jacob Fisch, J. A. Aeurer, A. Hengstenberg, Mathias Neckey, John Huber, H. Funck, Daniel Binz, William Achton, Jacob Horr, Henry Molis, Jacob Bowmann, John Schmidt, John Stengele, A. Wilhelm, Lorenz Haeng, F. A. Wienker. There seems to be no record of the first officers but we have reliable information that Henry Kautz, was the first speaker, and that Henry Geiss, the veteran druggist, still at the old stand, was the first instructor in gymnastics. A beautiful flag of this Turner society, bearing the inscription "Dedicated to the Muscatine Turnverein by the German Ladies, May, 1857," with a fine United States shield and a large American eagle in the center, still in good state of preservation, now adorns the wall of the present Turnverein Hall. At the beginning of the Civil war most of the members of the old Turnverein (having one hundred members at that time) left for the front in defense of the Union and many never returned. After the war, the survivors founded a new Turner society. In 1870 another society, the "Vorwaerts Turnverein," was founded, so there were two of them for a time. But after a brief period the "Vorwaerts" ceased to exist. The "Muscatine Turnverein" flourished successfully from then on and in the early '80s. Having two lots on the corner of Sixth street and Iowa avenue, they built a large Turner hall on the same. In transforming this hall into a fine opera house, however, a heavy debt was incurred and in consequence the entire property of the society, about 1891, passed into private ownership and the society disbanded.
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