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This photo, taken in the early 1900s, is just one of many featured in the Washington Historical Society's newest exhibit, "Washington Turn Verein," opening this Friday, Sept. 4, in the museum at the corner of Fourth and Market streets.
A special opening reception will be held through Sunday, Sept. 6, featuring additional Turner artifacts - old posters for plays and concerts, the minutes book, other special papers - from the Historical Society's archives that will only be on display for the first three days. Hours are Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. The museum is closed on Mondays.
The exhibit, which chronicles the history of the Washington Turn Verein in a series of panels, isn't just for history lovers, but will interest sports fans as well, said George Bocklage, one of the exhibit researchers/organizers.
"The Turn Verein was a German exercise club," he explained, noting members (children and adults) performed physical feats, stunts and routines both for competition and entertainment.
The "Turners," as they were called, were the leading gymnasts of their day, although the group eventually expanded into more of a cultural club, featuring theater, music and social dancing along with the physical performances.
In the early days of the Washington Turn Verein, members put on exhibitions in Fricke Meadow, a grassy area at the corner of Lafayette and Second streets that used to be where Lafayette Park is now, said Bocklage. They also used Lafayette Market (an open-air structure once located where Ed's Meat Market is today) and held meetings on the second floor of city hall.
After the Civil War, the Turn Verein grew to be the cultural center of the Washington community, said Bocklage, a place where people young and old came to see plays, hear concerts, attend dances, get exercise . . .
Way to Improve Health, Well-Being
The Turn Verein movement was started in 1811 by German schoolteacher Friedrich Jahn, who stressed the old German maxim, "A Sound Mind in a Sound Body." Concerned about what he considered the German soldiers' poor health and lack of discipline, Jahn started the Turn Verein as a way to improve the physical and mental health of the German people, noted Bocklage. His program included art, music, literature and drama.
The Early Years
Fifty years after Jahn started the Turner movement, a dozen young men, immigrants to Washington from Germany, founded the Washington Turn Verein in 1859. The first president, Franz Wilhelmi, had been a gymnastics instructor back home in Baden, Germany, and familiar with the Turner movement.
Washington was a small settlement compared to other cities where Turn Vereins were established, Bocklage noted.
The first American Turn Verein was founded in 1848 in Cincinnati. Many more sprang up in larger cities, including St. Louis, which was the center of a Turn Verein district and the national Turn Verein headquarters from 1878 to 1897. A large monument to Friedrich Jahn was put up in Forest Park in 1913. It was funded by contributions from people all over the country. It still stands in Forest Park today on the east side of Art Hill, Bocklage noted.
"St. Louis hosted a lot of national conferences and Turnfests, which were demonstrations of their skills," said Bocklage.
Civil War to World War I
When the Civil War broke out, the Washington Turn Verein was suspended so that members could serve as Union soldiers. "Turn Vereins were very political," noted Bocklage. "They were anti-slavery and very democratic, so they all wanted to fight for their country."
"One regiment was almost entirely Washington Turners," said Shelly McCaskill, an exhibit organizer, "The Turner Rifle Regiment."
Wilhelmi was the captain, and they participated in 23 major battles in the South.
Wilhelmi's Civil War swords and pistol are on display as part of the Washington Historical Society exhibit. They were not easy to locate. Wilhelmi's descendants had sold them years before, said Bocklage, but the Washington Historical Society researchers were able to track them down for the display.
Along with the gun and sword are letters that traveled with the Turner regiment during the war, including one Wilhelmi wrote describing a battle, complete with a drawing of it.
When the Civil War ended, the Turn Verein was revived in Washington and members constructed their own building, Turner Hall, at the corner of Third and Jefferson streets where they could hold meetings and practice gymnastics. The hall was later enlarged to include a stage and balcony. Turner popularity continued through the start of World War I, a time when interest in German-American heritage began to wane.
"In the 1920s," the exhibit notes, "it was sometimes difficult to gather enough Turners to hold a monthly meeting . . . it was hard to find a qualified gymnastics instructor. In 1928, boys and girls exercise classes were discontinued."
By the 1930s, Turner Hall was used only for public dances, so the remaining Turners sold the building to the Washington Elks Club for $5,000.
Exhibit Years in the Making
The Turn Verein exhibit opening at the Washington Historical Society is one members have long wanted to organize, since the Schmidt "Boss" Jewelry Shop family (descendants of Franz Wilhelmi), donated many of the items 20 or more years ago.
But it was a request from the House of History of Baden-Wuerttemberg in Stuttgart, Germany, to borrow a flag to include in their exhibit on men and women from Baden, Germany, who immigranted to America after the 1848 revolution, that inspired the Washington historians to create a display of their own.
The flag is for the Grand Army of the Republic (a Civil War veterans organization), which had two local chapters, one in Washington, named for Dr. James Owens, and one in Union, named for Franz Wilhelmi. The Washington Historical Society loaned the Stuttgart museum the Wilhelmi flag as part of a five-year agreement.
A German newspaper published a story on the flag earlier this summer. Following is a condensed version of the text:
"Franz Wilhelmi was one of Washington's most admired citizens in the 1800s. An immigrant from the state of Baden in Germany, he and his wife operated a boarding house on Jefferson Street beginning in 1853. He was a surveyor by profession and served both the the city and Franklin County in surveying and property assessment offices at different times. The first leader of the Turn Verein in Washington, he was active in the organization the rest of his life.
"During the Civil War he led a local volunteer Union regiment as its Captain during 23 battles in the South. "When the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic), a Civil War veterans organization, was established in Union in 1888, the post was named in his honor. The Washington post had been named for Col. James W. Owens, the son of the town's founders. The Washington Historical Society has been the custodian of the flags from both of these groups for many years.
"Last year, at the request of the House of History of Baden-Wuerttemberg in Stuttgart the 'Wilhelmi' banner was loaned to the German museum for a period of five years. On July 17 Sigrid Spann, a direct descendant of Franz and his wife, Alwine, was there when the banner, which had been refurbished in Germany, was put on display. She is the great granddaughter of one of Franz's daughters who had returned to Germany. Mrs. Spann, who lives in the town of Bietgheim-Bissingen, is a retired teacher who taught English and French there.
"The photo from a German newspaper shows Mrs. Spann with the Wilhelmi G.A.R. banner at the museum. She said that after her mother died, she found interesting documents about her ancestor Franz and since then 'can't get away from his fascinating life history.' She says that he was a 'revolutionary' in l849 during a period of great interest in creating a republican government in Germany. The revolution failed and most of the Wilhelmis immigrated to Missouri and Arkansas. "Franz was born in 1827 in the village of Stebbach, Baden, where his father was a pastor. He completed his studies in surveying and engineering in Karlsruhe and became interested in the Turner movement in Germany which was inspired by republican ideals. He carried those ideals to America and became a civic leader in Washington. Wilhelmi died on Jan. 29, 1883, of typhoid fever and was buried at the Odd Fellows Cemetery."
Inspired by the interest the German museum was showing for things Wilhelmi had done in America, members of the Washington Historical Society began research for the Turn Verein exhibit about a year ago. They dug through their archives using old photos, newspaper clippings, posters and other documents to piece together a complete history. Much time was spent transferring the images to digital files, which were then laid out and printed on large panels for display.
The printing was done locally and the expenses of the project were fully underwritten by the Washington Historical Society.
Along with Wilhelmi's Civil War swords and pistol, there are a few other tangible artifacts on display, including four Indian clubs that were used in Turn Verein demonstrations. Indian club swinging was an exercise that originated in India and was popular in America in the late 1800s, noted Bocklage.
A short video of a 1904 peep show reel from the Library of Congress which shows Indian clubs being used by children in a Kansas City public school classroom also will be part of the exhibit.
Street and sidewalk work along Fourth and Market streets has been completed.
For the three-day opening reception of the "Washington Turn Verein" exhibit at the Washington Historical Society, people are asked to use the pedestrian ramp and the parking lot door.
Hours are Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 4 p.m. The museum is closed on Mondays.
