Community Life: Banner Text

German immigrants placed a premium on education. Many religious congregations supported parochial schools, but public schools also provided German-language instruction in multiple subjects. To correspond with relatives across the Atlantic, children had to master not only German grammar, but also German penmanship, which differed substantially from English.

Immigrants further fostered community through social institutions. Many towns could boast a Turnverein (gymnastics society). The Turners embraced the motto of “a sound mind in a sound body” and promoted a regular physical regimen among members, which in later years included women alongside men. Their large halls often doubled as community centers for concerts, lectures, and political organizing. Marksmanship clubs (Schützenvereine) were also popular. Davenport’s Schützenpark, complete with zoo, roller coaster, and beer garden, was the German community’s favorite venue for Sunday recreations.

Music played a major role in German-American culture. Amateur choral societies (Sängervereine) flourished throughout the state. At the turn of the twentieth century, Dubuque, Davenport, and Burlington took turns hosting the bi-annual Singing Festival of the Northwestern Singers’ Union (Sängerbund), which spanned the Midwest. Professional singers trained in the classical German repertoire traveled to Iowa from Chicago, Milwaukee, or other urban centers. With time, German musical traditions merged with more American forms. In 1898, when Davenport hosted its Sängerbund festival, Carl Beiderbecke served as honorary president. Two generations later, this musical family produced famed jazz trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke.

Community halls provided a stage for amateur theater groups in Dubuque, Davenport, Templeton, and elsewhere. Their repertoire initially consisted of contemporary works by popular German and Austrian playwrights, but later included plays written for German-American audiences by East Coast immigrant authors. The vaudeville circuit also brought “Dutch” (Deutsch) performers such as Gus Williams, born Gustave Wilhelm Leweck, Jr., who performed skits and songs in a comedic German accent.