Turners

Turners (German: Turner) are members of German-American gymnastic clubs called Turnverein. They promoted German culture, physical culture, liberal politics, and supported the Union war effort during the American Civil War. Turners, especially Francis Lieber, 1798–1872, were the leading sponsors of gymnastics as an American sport and the field of academic study.

This article is about German-American gymnastic club members. For the unincorporated community, see Turners, Missouri.

Gymnastics room in Turner Hall, Milwaukee, ca. 1900
3,000 Turners performed at the Federal Gymnastics Festival in Milwaukee, 1893.

In Germany a major gymnastic movement was started by Turnvater ("father of gymnastics") Friedrich Ludwig Jahn in the early 19th century when Germany was occupied by Napoleon. The Turnvereine ("gymnastic unions"; from German turnen meaning “to practice gymnastics,” and Verein meaning “club, union”) were not only athletic, but also political, reflecting their origin in similar "nationalistic gymnastic" organizations in Europe. The Turner movement in Germany was generally liberal in nature, and many Turners took part in the Revolution of 1848.[1]

Group portrait of the St. Louis, Missouri Turnverein in 1860.

After its defeat, the movement was suppressed and many Turners left Germany, some emigrating to the United States, especially to the Ohio Valley region. Several of these Forty-Eighters went on to become Union soldiers, and some became Republican politicians.[2] Besides serving as physical education, social, political and cultural organizations for German immigrants, Turners were also active in public education and the labor movements.[3][4][5] They were leading promoters of gymnastics in the United States as a sport, and as a school subject.[6] In the United States, the movement declined after 1900, and especially after 1917.[7]

History in the United States
Postage stamp commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the American Turners

The Turner movement was preceded by the first wave of gymnastics in the US in the 1820s lead by Germans like Charles Beck and Charles Follen and Americans like John Neal. Beck opened the first gymnasium in the US in 1825 at the Round Hill School in Northampton, Massachusetts.[8] Follen opened the first college gymnasium and the first public gymnasium in the US in 1826 at Harvard College and in Boston, Massachusetts, respectively.[9] Neal was the first American to open a public gymnasium in the US in Portland, Maine in 1827.[10]

The Turnvereine made a contribution to the integration of German-Americans into their new home. The organizations continue to exist in areas of heavy German immigration, such as Iowa, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri, Syracuse, NY, Kentucky, New York City, Sacramento, and Los Angeles.

About 1000 Turners served as Union soldiers during the Civil War. Anti-slavery was a common element, as typified by Carl Schurz. Many Republican leaders in German communities were members. However most German-Americans probably were Democrats in the 19th century. They provided the bodyguard at Abraham Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, 1861 and at his funeral in April 1865. In the Camp Jackson Affair, a large force of German volunteers helped prevent Confederate forces from seizing the government arsenal in St. Louis just prior to the beginning of the war.[11] After the Civil War the national organization took a new name, Nordamerikanischer Turnerbund, and supported German-language teaching in the public high schools, as well as gymnastics. Women's auxiliaries were formed in the 1850s and 1860s. The high point in membership came in 1894, with 317 societies and about 40,000 adult male members, along with 25,000 children and 3000 women.[12]

Like other German-American groups, the Turners experienced suspicion during World War I even though they now had very little contact with Germany. German-language instruction ended at many schools and universities, and the federal government imposed restrictions on German-language publications. The younger generation generally demanded the switch to exclusive use of English society affairs, which allowed many Turner societies to continue to function.[3]

Cultural assimilation and both World Wars with Germany took a gradual toll on membership, with some halls closing and others becoming regular dance halls, bars, or bowling alleys.[5] As of 2011, 54 Turner societies still existed around the US. The current headquarters of the American Turners is in Louisville, Kentucky.[13]

In 1948, the US Post Office issued a 3-cent commemorative stamp to mark the 100th anniversary of the movement in the country.

The Turnverein in Sacramento, founded in 1854, claims to be the oldest still in existence in the United States.[14] The Turnverein Vorwaerts of Fort Wayne, Indiana, owned the Hugh McCulloch House from 1906 until 1966.[15]:2 It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.[16]

Vintage photos of the Milwaukee Turnverein
  • 1866
  • 1869
  • 1875
  • 1879
  • 1915

Other Wisconsin Turners in 1915
  • Kenosha
  • Madison
  • Madison Bears (seniors)
  • New Holstein
  • Sheboygan

Jahn Monument in Berlin with memorial plaques from American Turnvereine
  • Chicago, 1861
  • Cincinnati, 1865
  • Jahn Monument In Forest Park, Saint Louis MO
  • Philadelphia, 1861
  • Washington, D.C., 1911
  • Davenport, Iowa Turngemeinde Monument

Turner Halls
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See also

References
  1. Claire E. Nolte. "The German Turnverein". Encyclopedia of 1848 Revolutions. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  2. Gruen, Mardee. "Milwaukee Turners, local Jews go back 141 years." Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle April 29, 1994; p. 6, col. 1
  3. Annette R. Hofmann (August 3, 1998). "150 years of Turnerism in the United States". Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis Max Kade Center.
  4. John B. Jentz. "Turnvereins". Encyclopedia of Chicago. Retrieved July 20, 2019.
  5. Mary Lou LeCompte. "TURNVEREIN MOVEMENT". Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  6. George Eisen; David Kenneth Wiggins (1995). Ethnicity and Sport in North American History and Culture. ABC-CLIO. p. 28.
  7. Annette R. Hofmann, "Transformation and Americanization: The American Turners and their new identity." International Journal of the History of Sport 19.1 (2002): 91-118.
  8. Leonard, Fred Eugene (1923). A Guide to the History of Physical Education. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York, New York: Lea & Febiger. pp. 232–233.
  9. Leonard, Fred Eugene (1923). A Guide to the History of Physical Education. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York, New York: Lea & Febiger. pp. 235–236.
  10. Leonard, Fred Eugene (1923). A Guide to the History of Physical Education. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York, New York: Lea & Febiger. pp. 227–250.
  11. Scott Williams. "THE ROLE OF GERMAN IMMIGRANTS IN CIVIL WAR - MISSOURI". The Missouri Civil War Museum. Archived from the original on March 3, 2012. Retrieved January 10, 2011.
  12. Steven A. Reiss, ed., Sports in America from Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century: An Encyclopedia (2011) pp 913-916.
  13. "Welcome to American Turners". American Turners. Archived from the original on April 6, 2011. Retrieved January 9, 2011.
  14. "Homepage of the Sacramento Turnverein". Retrieved June 13, 2019.
  15. "Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Research Database (SHAARD)" (Searchable database). Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology. Retrieved July 1, 2015. Note: This includes Karen Anderson (November 1979). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Hugh McCulloch House" (PDF). Retrieved July 1, 2015. and Accompanying photographs.
  16. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.

Further reading
  • Barney, Robert Knight. "German Turners in America: Their Role in Nineteenth Century Exercise Expression and Physical Education Legislation." in Earle F. Zeigler ed., American Sport and Physical Education History (to 1875) (1975): 116+. online
  • Barney, Robert Knight. "Knights of Cause and Exercise: German Forty-Eighters and Turnvereine in the United States during the Antebellum Period." Canadian Journal of History of Sport 13.2 (1982): 62-79.
  • Barney, Robert Knight. "America's First Turnverein: Commentary in Favor of Louisville, Kentucky." Journal of Sport History 11.1 (1984): 134-137. online
  • Kramer, William M., and Norton B. Stern. "The Turnverein: A German Experience for Western Jewry." Western States Jewish History 16 (1984): 227.
  • Metzner, Henry. A brief history of the American Turnerbund (1924) online>
  • Pfister, Gertrud. "The Role of German Turners in American Physical Education," International Journal of the History of Sport 26 (no. 13, 2009) 1893-925
  • Pumroy, Eric, and Katja Rampelmann. Research guide to the Turner movement in the United States (Greenwood, 1996).
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