USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume I > Part 75
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78
The enterprising saloonkeeper Frequently resorted to ingenious expedients in attracting patronage. Family events became publie events. It was not uncommon to note an advertisement in the German press announcing that the saloon-host would celebrate his birthday, or that of his wife, by serving a delicious free lunch consisting of "Hasenpfeffer," "Metzelsuppe," or "Span- ferkel" to all who on that day honored his "lokal" with their presence. The "bock-bier" season, too, when the foaming amber fluid consisted of a double- brew, afforded attractive publicity.
These advertisements were sometimes embellished with the inspirational toast "Gambrinus Lebe Hoch !" and sometimes with the more practical an- nonneement to the effect that the host sold "2 Glas Bier Für 5 ets., " adding that friends, patrons and the general "Publikum" was cordially invited.
The walls of some of the popular restaurants and beer halls were richly decorated with vineyard seenes, with happy lads and maidens gathering luscious grapes into baskets, bearded dwarfs operating huge wine presses, and a cheery Baechus astride a cask raising his cup of pearly wine. Then the walls, too, depicted a gay bevy of hop pickers, men and women, young and old, and a corpulent Gambrinus drinking a pokal of the amber finid.
The drink proverbs done in bright colors and old German lettering, decorated both walls and ceilings, and gave zest and humor to the social atmosphere. The writer records a few of the proverbs as follows :
Ofen Warm, Bier Kalt : Weib JJung, Wein Alt.
Nie zu Viel, Denk ans Ziel.
Raum ist in der kleinsten Kannner,
Vär den grössten Katzenjammer.
Erst Proben, dami Loben.
Rausch erzählt, Kater verhehlt.
772
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
Bier auf Wein. Dass lass Sein : Wein auf Bier, Dass rath ich Dir. I'nd ein Guter Magen, Kann auch Beides Vertragen.
Ob Heid. Jud oder Christ, Herein was Durstig ist.
Art of Beer Making. - The old world art of beer making was subjected to modifications in the new world breweries. The American inventive genius applied itself to the creation of methods, devices, apparatus designed to facilitate quantity production and to meet the appetites of an American palate.
It was sometimes held by connoisseurs that the American product could not compare in quality and taste with the German product. The American brew- ers contended that while their produet was lighter in substance it was also more palatable than the foreign product and better suited to their trade. At the same time they contended that they could readily duplicate any foreign product if this was deemed desirable.
In this connection an interesting story is told: A concessionaire at the Chicago World's Fair conducted a German village at which the famous Mun- chener dark beer, imported directly from Munich, Bavaria, was to be dis- pensed. The earlier shipments proved that the beer had soured in transit.
The concessionaire rushed to Milwaukee and asked one of the leading brewers whether he could duplicate the famous Munich brew. The answer was in the affirmative. The beer was produced and sold during the entire season of the world's fair as an old country product. The most expert beer connoisseurs did not discover the deception. The cost of production was somewhat higher but in quality and flavor it rivaled the old world product.
The civic and social life of Milwaukee has, in certain of its phases. afforded an interesting study to strangers who have marveled at the fact that the "great beer village." with its monster breweries and thousands of drinking places, was on the whole sober, orderly and thrifty. Visitors during their so- journ of days and weeks failed to find a single intoxicated person and when they found one they also discovered that he was not a native but a stranger. Notwithstanding the city's liberal attitude on the drink question its percent- age of vice and erime has been surprisingly low.
Religious Intolerance .- Some of the forty-eighters who settled in Mil- waukee came with somewhat perverted conceptions of American liberty. They failed to realize that the Constitution of the United States guaranteed liberty of conscience and that all men were free to worship their God in their own faith and in their own manner. They began to manifest the grossest intolerance in which the Catholics became the special object of their attacks.
In the early '50s of the last century they issued so-called "Fluchblaetter" in which the local priesthood and the nuns were bitterly maligned and abused. The Notre Dame sisters, who first came to Milwaukee in the early 50s, did not dare for several years to appear on the streets in their religious garb. Offensive caricatures were introduced and seandalous stories were invented. Later this propaganda found expression in the formation of freethinker societies and in the publication of periodicals espousing the cause of free thought and in unrelenting opposition to religious institutions.
773
TRANSITION, ALT-MILWAUKEE TO AMERICAN CITY
The so-called turner societies which came into life in an early day and which fostered the art of physical culture in an attractive manner, took an attitude in favor of the freethinker element. Their efforts to promote physical perfection, however, met with remarkable support and the turner societies increased in number and in membership strength. So strong did they become that for a time they were a dominating foree in the political life of the community.
Their motto "frish, frei, stark, tren" (alert, free, strong, true), possessed the ring of appeal. They not only fostered a healthy body but also stimulated the social life of their adherents, and paid high tribute to the art of music. Their zeal for mental freedom as well as bodily strength, thus rounding out the complete man and citizen, led them to manifest opposition to the religious people, until turnerism and atheism became synonymous terms in the minds of the people.
The splendid purpose of the turner societies to promote the physical man. therefore, did not receive popular support. If they had eentered their efforts, it has been held, solely upon the idea of training the human body and mind, into health and happiness they would have made a much larger contribution to physical wellbeing of their time and of future generations. Thus, the turner idea, namely the cause of bodily and mental health and vigor, which was deserving of general acceptance and emulation throughout the land. was stifled through hostility for those who professed and practiced religions freedom.
Their attitude towards the religious elements, however, not only prevented their project from becoming generally popular but also reduced its exponents to a mere class or minor fraction of the community. With the passing of time many of the turner halls fell into disse and the memberships of those remaining were redneed to a mere remnant.
Thus, the absolute futility of the efforts of the freethinker and turner element to banish the priests and crush the churches has been fully demon- strated with the lapse of time. Their propaganda of intolerance died with. them. Their institutions have been relegated to other uses while the churches. both Protestant and Catholic, continued to grow in number, in beauty and in standing.
These Germans had come with an old world prejudice bred in a country where church and state were one, where religion and polities were inter- woven to an aggravating degree, one employing or opposing the other, in an incessant, acrimonious struggle for position, for advantage, for supremacy. In giving expression to this prejudice they failed to appreciate that the con- tention carried on in the old world between religionists and non-religionists, under a political banner, lost its force in the new world where a total separa- tion of church and state was observed, and where the freedom of conscience was constitutionally recognized.
They also proceeded upon the mistaken theory that American freedom im- plied non-affiliation with religious bodies. To become allied with a church organization meant to become priest-ridden. Therefore, no man could be a free man unless he esponsed atheism or free-thinkerism.
774
HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
The business of kindling race or creed antagonism has been spasmodic in this country, and has never succeeded for long. Like disease germs that die under the rays of the sun it usually gave way under the light of justice and fair play, or degenerated into seeret propaganda. Paradoxically, these Germans resented race prejudice vigorously, but practiced religions prejudice with equal intensity. Thus, the propaganda of religions antagonism although carried on openly, courageonsly and with absolute sincerity. was bound to come to naught.
The German Theater .- The German Theater has for many years been an educational influence in the circles that it served. It had its beginning in an early day and was known as the Stadt Theater, located on Third Street be- tween Wells and Cedar streets. Its founder and director for many years was Heinrich Kurtz. Later the enterprise was transferred to the Pabst Theater on Oneida Street, where it was for many years under the management of the late Leon Wachsner, subsequently by Undwig Kreiss, and is still condueted with fair success.
The dramatie offerings have, in addition to the elassie, included the newer productions as they appeared upon the stage in Germany, Austria, France and the Skandinavian countries. For many years too, the English speaking stage of this country regularly presented the better productions of the Euro- pean stage, but it was claimed that the Stadt Theater was always among the first to present old world dramatie novelties.
"Closely allied and vet distinct from the musical life of the city, " says the writer of "Sixty Years of Service, " issued by the German Herold "is the theatrical interest. Everybody knows that one of the institutions which for generations has given to Milwaukee a distinet character is its German Theater. There had been German theatrical performances here as far back as in the '50s. at first by amateurs, later by professional actors. A permanent German stage. however did not appear until 1868, and it received from the first the same gene- rous support, going far beyond mere reporting. let alone considerations of the * counting-room, which was and is given to the musical life of the city. In the earlier days, the relations between the German actors and the public was a far more intimate and personal one, than is possible in these days when Mil- waukee has assumed metropolitan size and ways.
"Nearly every actor had some personal adherents who took active part in their rivalries, and endeavored to draw the newspapers into these con- troversies. In the earlier files there is sometimes evidence of these feuds, to which an exaggerated importance was attributed ; but it may be said that the files of the Herold are clearer of such quarrels, whether with the actors them- selves or with their supporters in rival newspapers, than any of the others. In later days, when the technical side of newspaper printing and especially the art of illustration had made its great modern progress, the Herold did not remain behind any other paper, whether in the German or English language, in the space it devoted to the enstomary reproduction of the por- traits of theatrical people and other matters referring to dramatic art. True to the principle of furnishing all the news any English paper furnished. and
775
TRANSITION, ALT-MILWAUKEE TO AMERICAN CITY
in addition the news of special interest to the German element, the English- speaking stage also received ample attention.
"The German stage has never been a purely commercial enterprise. It has always been treated as a great cultural or edneational institution. Con- sequently the press gave to it the same support in promoting its business affairs that it gave to the musical institutions of the city."
The actors were procured from the leading theaters of Germany and it was always held that, owing to the better compensation afforded here, the Stadt Theater was able to seenre superior dramatie talent. Annually the director would journey to Germany for a batch of the latest plays and for some additions to his stage personnel.
The regular patrons of the theater usually subscribe to certain seats by the season. This has applied particularly to the Wednesday night perform- ances, rather than to the Sunday or Friday performances. The Wednesday performances have usually been devoted to the more substantial dramatic productions while the Sunday performances have included light comedies and operettas. The Friday performances have as a rule dealt with the so-called "Freie Buehne," involving problem plays and psychological studies and the like.
Political Activities .- In the political activities of the community the Ger- mans were slow pupils. They had come to America without previous political training. They had been reared under a monarchial form of government where political contests were few and far between, and where militarism and industrialism rather than political issues and party success were matters of individual and national concern. While they were sitting over their glasses of beer and singing "Iteil dir im Siegeskranz," or over a bottle of wine sing- ing "Gaudeamus Igitur," the Irish were imbibing a stronger drink and dis- cussing the affairs of state and the political situation of the day. Men like Carl Sehurz, who secured his political training in the Revolution of 1848, were the exception rather than the rule.
The native element in control of local public affairs, in the interest of party expedieney, gradually made a bid for the immigrant vote. By degrees the Germans became familiar with publie men and measures, learned how to east their ballots, and eventually were induced to aspire to public office. As a rule, they were more concerned in social and musical organizations and less in political affairs than their fellow citizens of other racial origin.
In 1842, Dr. Franz Hübsebmann the first German to manifest an interest in the political affairs of his adopted country, took a census of his fellow countrymen in the village with the view of ascertaining how many of them desired to participate in the elections. He found only seven eligible to the franchise. A year later the number was increased to thirteen. In the same year the Irish vote exceeded the number of four hundred.
On the other hand the Irish element manifested a remarkable adaptability for political activity. They were temperamentally far better equipped for the American political arena. While the Irish possessed an advantage over the German in that they came with a knowledge of the language of the coun- try which the other was still to master, they also came with a history and
776
IHISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
tradition behind them designed to stimulate an interest in governmental affairs.
Temperamentally, too, they were far better fitted for the strife and con- tention of the political arena. They were imaginative, impulsive and com- bative, while the German was idealistic. reflective and pacific. Thus, the Irishman would succeed in a political contest where the German failed. The former was a good sport and took a chance, the latter was half-hearted and took second place. Thus, it was not unusual to find a lone Irishman in a German ward elected an alderman of that ward, or to find on Irish-American preside as mayor of the city when the German-American vote was strongest in comparison with that cast by citizens of other racial origin.
The Polish element, too, although arriving at a later date, manifested a surprising adaptability for political activities. While they segregated them- selves into colonies on the south, east and north sides of the city, they did not isolate themselves from the eivie and material activities of the community. They shared in the economic fruits of the community and participated in its political life,
In a comparatively short time they were represented in the city and county government by their own countrymen. They also sent their repre- sentatives to the halls of state legislation. Today a young Polish-AAmerican represents the Fourth Congressional District with acceptable ability in the National Congress, and an American who first saw the light of day in Poland graces one of the local judgeships with credit to his race and to the com- munity.
In the formulation of political campaign lists, and the naming of candi- dates for eity and county offices some regard is still given to racial origin. A list of candidates designed to appeal to the popular vote always includes, in addition to the Anglo-American names, an equal proportion of Irish, German and Polish names. And yet it would probably be difficult to judge, in manner and speech, the racial origin of the different candidates.
The Transition Period .- The process of assimilation proceeded in a natural and orderly manner. The transition period arrived. With the decline of the German immigration and with the passing year after year of the German born, the advent of a new generation schooled in the language of the country and in the customs and habits of the native born, the change came.
Milwaukee had passed the zenith point of Germandom. Its Ister as the German Athens of America waned. The younger generation manifested tastes and desires that differed from those of their elders. They looked for English newspapers and sermons, and for dramas that dealt with phases of life with which they were familiar. They preferred the negro minstrel show, the Irish comedian, and the American melodrama to the comedies and problem plays at the Stadt Theater. They began to play baseball, patronize boxing and wrestling matches, and admire a rough and tumble football contest.
There came also the era of beautiful public parks, with their shady walks. green lawns, artificial lakes, beautiful flowers, wild animals, soda fountains and ice creams. The attraction these formed tended to minimize the patron- age enjoyed by the beer gardens. One by one their muumber was reduced.
777
TRANSITION, ALT-MILWAUKEE TO AMERICAN CITY
Old and young deserted them and wended their way to the public parks whose popularity in time rendered the former practically obsolete.
The old time German who insisted that his children must speak German at home soon discovered that an inexorable law of assimilation was at work. His children spoke English because every other child spoke it and because it was easier to speak it. The process of Americanization, unstimmlated and unaided, had taken its natural, orderly, and logieal course.
The number of German born had reached its maximum soon after the Franco-Prussian war in 1872. The tide of immigration swept thousands of foreign born into Milwaukee and Germandom, no doubt, reached its zenith during the years that immediately followed. Milwaukee was then frequently named the "German Athens of America."
The German newspapers flourished in an exceptional degree. In 1880 there were being published three English daily newspapers and five German dailies and it was generally considered that the latter were more profitable than the former. Besides the publication of German books and pamphlets was more promisenonsly engaged in than publications in the English language.
The process of assimilation, however, which was constant and steady. is well illustrated in the gradual decline of the German press and the ascend- aney of the English language press. The writer happened to be employed in those days on an English daily whose offices adjoined those of the leading German daily and was enabled to observe at close range the shifting of the reading publie from one to the other. Whenever a black-bordered obituary notice of an old German settler appeared in the German newspaper it fre- quently also meant the loss of a subscriber. The younger members of the family would subscribe for a daily printed in the English language.
Thus, at the end of forty years the German press of Milwaukee has been redneed to one afternoon daily newspaper. The English press on the other hand has grown to five dailies, one morning and four evening papers, whose eirenlation in the aggregate is exceedingly large. The strongest support which the German language receives today is confined to the Lutheran and Catholic churches where sermons are still being preached in the German language.
The old time celebration of Independence Day, with its excessive hurrah and noise, its reckless use of firearms and fireworks, and consequent dangers to young and old, has given way to the observance of a "Sane Fourth." The numerous parks of the city become the festive centers where the children engage in pageants, plays and exercises in commemoration of the great na- tional holiday. The reading of the Declaration of Independence, brass band musie discoursing national airs, and the singing of the national hymn, char- acterize the exercises of the day. The children are carefully chaperoned and amply provided with sweets and refreshments.
The day not only affords a maximum of wholesome pleasure for the youth- ful participants, but also conveys a magnificent lesson in government and patriotism, stimulating love and loyalty for home and country, and exalting the spirit of true American citizenship.
The transition, too, brought with it a tolerant spirit in matters of religion. The German agitators of a half century ago, who sought to inangurate a
XXX
THE OLD TIME FAMOUS WHITEFISH BAY RESORT WHERE FISH DINNERS AND OLD WINES WERE SERVED
.
1
-
.
-
AN OLD WORLD "BIERSTUBE" AS EXEMPLIFIED IN THE ANTE BELLUM GERMAN DAYS OF ALT-MILWAUKEE
The old "Künstlerheim" on West Water Street, later destroyed by fire, the "Forstkeller" on Chestnut Street, the "Bratwurst-Gloeklein, " formerly attached to the Republican House, and the Pabst Theater "Kneipe. " affected the German restaurant interior. The illustration shown above is copied from a painting by the late F. W. Heine, a Milwaukee artist who took "Die Gossel Schencke" at Vienna for his model. The figures to the right represent his wife, two daughters and grandson as guests.
779
TRANSITION, ALT-MILWAUKEE TO AMERICAN CITY
movement which would drive Christianity from the American continent had passed to their graves. Their voices had become silent, their organizations erumbled away, and their writings passed into the ash heap of time. What remains of the breeding and spreading of intolerance is confined to clandestine methods and seeret machination which do not receive the support or approval of a dominant social order.
The newer generations have fostered mutual respect between believers and non-believers, between Jew and Gentile, between Protestant and Catholic. Each is allowed to travel his way, worship his creator in his own fashion, or deeline to profess any religion if he so ordains. Religious faith has come to be recognized as coming within the realm of eonseience, which is as sacred as are the most intimate family relations, and therefore, a matter of indi- vidual concern rather than of publie controversy.
The Pride of Race Origin .- There are those among the Americans of Ger- man deseent who have measured their own participation in the economic and political life of the nation and have drawn certain conclusions therefrom. They have found that while those of their own race origin have made re- markable strides in the industrial and commercial activities, they have not concerned themselves in the higher political counsels of the nation in the degree that those of English, Irish, Scotch, Dutch and Scandinavian deseent have shared in them.
This faet, it is asserted, has led to the minimizing in history of the contri- bution made by the infusion of German strains of blood to the development of the natural resources, the arts and sciences and the material and social progress of the republic.
These conelnsions have led to the inauguration of a movement primarily designed to be thoroughly American in tone and spirit and at the same time to dignify German race origin and to lend the same prestige accorded to other strains of blood. In line with this thought the so-called Stenben Society of America was founded in July, 1920. At its second annual convention, held in Milwaukee, July 4, 1921, the plans and purposes, as reported in the Mil- waukee Journal of February 19, 1922, were expressed by one of its promoters in the following language :
"Only American citizens can become members and only citizens of Ger- man descent on father's or mother's side, whether born here or over there. German-Americans who, during the war or at any other times, have denied their descent or shown that they are ashamed of their German descent, are excluded from membership, which is preceded by the strietest examination. All new members take their oath on the Constitution of America and on the honor and respect of their deseent.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.