Turners

 ( German-american History ) 

Turners (, ) are members of German-American gymnastic clubs called Turnvereine. They promoted German culture, physical culture, and liberal politics. Turners, especially Francis Lieber, were the leading sponsors of gymnastics as an American sport and the field of academic study.

In Germany, a major gymnastic movement was started by Turnvater ("father of gymnastics") and nationalist 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 ethnocentric "national gymnastic" organizations in Europe (such as the Czech Sokol), who participated in various national movements for independence. The Turner movement in Germany was generally Liberalism in nature, and many Turners took part in the Revolutions of 1848.

After the failure of the 1848 Revolution in Germany, the Turner movement was suppressed, and many Turners left Germany, some for the United States, especially the Ohio River region, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Texas. Several of these Forty-Eighters became Union Army and some became Republican politicians.Gruen, Mardee. "Milwaukee Turners, local Jews go back 141 years." Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle April 29, 1994; p. 6, col. 1 Besides serving as physical education, social, political, and cultural organizations for German immigrants, Turners were also active in public education and labor movements. They were leading promoters of gymnastics in the U.S. as a sport and a school subject.

In the U.S., the movement declined after 1900, and especially after 1917.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.

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History in the United States The Turner movement was preceded by the first wave of gymnastics in the U.S. in the 1820s, led by Germans such as Charles Beck and Charles Follen and Americans such as John Neal. Beck opened the first gymnasium in the U.S. in 1825 at the Round Hill School in Northampton, Massachusetts. Follen opened the first college gymnasium and the first public gymnasium in the States in 1826 at Harvard College and in Boston, Massachusetts, respectively. Neal was the first American to open a public gymnasium in the U.S., in Portland, Maine, in 1827. He documented and promoted these early efforts in the American Journal of Education and The Yankee, helping to establish the American branch of the movement.

The Turnvereine contributed to German-Americans' integration into their new home. They still exist in areas of heavy German immigration, such as Iowa, Texas, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri, Syracuse, New York, Kentucky, New York City, Sacramento, and Los Angeles.

About 1,000 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. 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 before the war began. After the war, the national organization took a new name, Nordamerikanischer Turnerbund, and supported German-language teaching in public high schools, as well as gymnastics. Women's auxiliaries 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 3,000 women.Steven A. Reiss, ed., Sports in America from Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century: An Encyclopedia (2011) pp 913-916.

In the 1904 Olympics, several competitors represented Turners organizations in Missouri, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York, and some Olympic teams were sponsored by Turners.

Like other German-American groups, the Turners experienced suspicion during World War I, even though they no longer had much 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.

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. As of 2011, 54 Turner societies remained in the U.S. The American Turners' headquarters is in Louisville, Kentucky.

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 institution in the city still in existence. The Turnverein Vorwaerts of Fort Wayne, Indiana, owned the Hugh McCulloch House from 1906 to 1966. Note: This includes and Accompanying photographs. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

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Gallery

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Vintage photos of the Milwaukee Turnverein File:Milwaukee Turnverein 1866.jpg|1866 File:Milwaukee Gymnasium 1869.jpg|1869 File:Milwaukee Turners 1875.jpg|1875 File:Milwaukee Turners 1879.jpg|1879 File:Milwaukee Turnverein.jpg|1915

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Other Wisconsin Turners in 1915 File:Kenosha Turners.jpg|Kenosha File:Madison Turners 1915.jpg|Madison File:Madison Turners 1915 - Bears.jpg|Madison Bears (seniors) File:New Holstein Turners.jpg|New Holstein File:Sheboygan Turners.jpg|Sheboygan

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Monuments in the United States File:Friedrich Ludwig Jahn monument in Forest Park - plaque.jpg|Jahn Monument in St. Louis, Missouri File:Davenport, Iowa Turngemeinde Monument.jpg|Davenport, Iowa Turngemeinde Monument

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Jahn Monument in Berlin with memorial plaques from American Turnvereine File:Jahn-Denkmal in der Hasenheide.jpg|The Berlin monument File:Gedenktafel aus Chicago.jpg|Chicago, 1861 File:Gedenktafel aus Cincinnati.jpg|Cincinnati, 1865 File:Gedenktafel aus Philadelphia.jpg|Philadelphia, 1861 File:Gedenktafel aus Washington.jpg|Washington, D.C., 1911

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Turner Halls File:LYRIC THEATER, BOONVILLE, COOPER COUNTY, MO.JPG|Turner Hall
Boonville, Missouri File:Buffalo, Iowa Tuner Hall.jpg|Turner Hall
Buffalo, Iowa File:Chicago Pilsen Turner Hall.jpg|Pilsen Turner Hall, Chicago, Illinois File:Turner Hall (Cincinnati).jpg|Central Turner Hall (1848), Cincinnati, Ohio File:Germania Singing and Sport Society.jpg|Germania Singing and Sport Society, Columbus, Ohio File:Central Turner Hall Davenport, Iowa.jpg|Central Turner Hall (1888), Davenport, Iowa File:East Turner Hall Davenport, Iowa.JPG|East Turner Hall (1891), Davenport, Iowa File:Nw turner hall davenport iowa.jpg|Northwest Turner Hall (1882), Davenport, Iowa File:Dubuque, Iowa Turner Hall.jpg|Turner Hall
Dubuque, Iowa File:Turner Hall Duluth.jpg|Turner Hall (1888), Duluth, Minnesota File:Eldridge Turn-Halle.jpg|Eldridge Turn-Halle, Eldridge, Iowa File:Elgin Turners, Elgin, IL.png|Elgin Turners
Elgin, Illinois File:Galena Il Galena Historic District Turner Hall and FD1.JPG|Turner Hall
Galena, Illinois File:Holyoke_Turnverein%2C_South_Holyoke.jpg|Holyoke Turner Hall
Holyoke, Massachusetts File:Independent Turnverein, Indianapolis.jpg|Independent Turnverein
Indianapolis, Indiana File:South Side Turnverein Hall.jpg|South Side Turnverein Hall (1900), Indianapolis, Indiana File:Indianapolis Turner Hall.jpg|South Side Turnverein Hall, Indianapolis, Indiana File:(Southside Turnverein, Indianapolis) by Rudolf Schwarz (1899) Control IAS IN000118.jpg|Detail, South Side Turnverin Hall, Indianapolis, Indiana File:Germania Turnverein Lancaster.JPG|Germania Turnverein, Lancaster, Pennsylvania File:Turner Hall Madison.jpg|Turner Hall (1868), Madison, Wisconsin File:Turner Hall Milwaukee 2014.jpg|Turner Hall (1882), Milwaukee, Wisconsin File:Milwaukee Turnverein gymnasium.jpg|Interior ca. 1910, Turner Hall, Milwaukee, Wisconsin File:Turners Hall New Orleans.jpg|Turners Hall (1868)
New Orleans, Louisiana File:New Ulm Turner Hall.jpg|Turner Hall
New Ulm, Minnesota File:La MaMa Annex 66 East 4th Street.jpg|Turn-Verein, East 4th Street, New York, New York File:(King1893NYC) pg572 CENTRAL TURN-VEREIN, 211 EAST 67TH STREET.jpg|Central Turn-Verein, East 67th Street, New York, New York File:TurnerHallOpenDoor.jpg|Turner Hall (1914)
Postville, Iowa File:Rock Island, Illinois Turnhalle.jpg|Turnhalle
Rock Island, Illinois File:Riverside, New Jersey Riverside NJ Turners Hall.jpg
Riverside, New Jersey

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See also

• German-Americans in the Civil War
• WMWG-LP: Owned by the Milwaukee Turners
• George Brosius
• Forty-Eighters
• Sokol, a comparable movement for Czechs in Central Europe (Austria-Hungary) and the United States

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Further reading

• Bob Barney. "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
• Bob Barney. "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.
• Bob Barney. "America's First Turnverein: Commentary in Favor of Louisville, Kentucky." Journal of Sport History 11.1 (1984): 134-137. online
• Hoyt, D. J. (1999). A strong mind in a strong body: Libraries in the German-American Turner movement. New York, NY: Peter Land.
• 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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External links

• Website of the American Turners
• Website of the Louisville Turners - Only Turners with Circus Program
• American Turners Records, 1853-2017 at Indiana University Indianapolis
• American Turner Topics newsletter
• Website of the Los Angeles Turners with history, photos, newsletters, and links to other Turners Organizations

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