As far as associations and societies go, we must refer you to the special "Logen und Vereine" section of this book, where they are described individually and exactly. They increased to such a number that they cannot be treated individually here. An exception we will make is the Turn-Verein, which first showed in this decade the full extent of all it was capable of doing.
The legal suit, by the end of the 1850’s, had badly reduced the number of its members. At the outbreak of the Civil War the Verein had only 28 members and of these, 22 went to war. Sixteen joined the 20th New York Volunteers, known as the Turner Regiment, while another six enlisted in other regiments. The duty of providing for the families of these men was taken over by the remaining Turner members. This is one of the highlights in the annals of the Turnvereins.
On 14 March 1862 the association was first incorporated. The directors were: Christian Freeoff, Heinrich Genzel, Jakob Häberle, and Valentin Schilly. The Turn Hall on Pond Street was somewhat remote and the need was clearer than ever for their gymnasium to be nearer the middle of the German area. In 1863 the society bought for $450 a site at the corner of Lodi and John Streets and built a new Turn Hall [gynmasium]. This building still stands today. It was sold later to the school administrative board which used it as a school building (Franklin School) until 1872 and it now belongs to W. J. Demong, who operates a cigar factory there. One sees that not only books, but gymnasia too have their fate. In 1867 the Verein bought the so-called "Centre House" from Benedikt Häberle who operated it during his time as a hotel. Häberle sold it to them for the same price he had paid for it. The necessary modifications were made in order to better suit it to the Turners’ purposes, but during the night of 26 December 1868 it burned down and furthermore had not yet been insured for its full worth. Mr. Haberle immediately offered the Verein the use of his garden behind the brewery, which was used for awhile until Heinrich Wöse, or "Papa Wöse," gave them free use of his theater at Butternut and Park Streets. There they stayed until the new Turn Hall was erected on the site where the earlier one had burned down. Concerning this, for its time, amazing achievement of enterprise, we refer to an interesting and reliable piece that was printed in the program of the 22nd annual Turner Festival of the Western New York Turner District (17-20 August 1889), reproduced as follows:
"It was in the evening of 3 March in the year 1869. Outside the grim northwest wind whistled through the streets of the Salt City, but in spite of the unfriendly winter evening all of the members of the Syracuse Turn-Verein gathered in the cozy front parlor of ‘Papa Woese’s’ house at the corner of Park and Butternut Streets for their regular meeting (first Wednesday of the month). It seemed as if an unknown something was inspiring the minds of everyone present. Each felt that something would happen at this meeting to stamp it as the most important meeting the society had ever held; and the president of the Turners at that time, J. L. Röhner, asked his deputy, Turner Wendelin Schwanz, to take the chair because he had a proposal to make, then everyone present felt that now had come the moment to put into words what all had expected. Deep silence filled the room and as the words of Röhner: ‘—that the Turn-Verein at the site of the burned-down Centre House build a new Turn Hall’—as these words, slowly and clearly spoken, died away, the silence lasted but one second before a storm of applause broke loose from the lips of those present, the spell was now broken and the almost unanimous support of the suggestion was the clearest proof that the same could no longer be held back. But the resolution just accepted also had its opponents; not everyone saw the future in such rosy colors. Turners Heinrich Genzel and Anton Aman saw it as quite precarious and Turner Christian Freeoff took the floor and said: ‘You want to have a new flag, you want to build a new hall, where will you get all that money?’ But those perhaps entirely heartfelt[?] words from the experienced financier were not further considered, for on that same evening a building committee was appointed consisting of Turners Valentin Schilly, Heinrich Genzel, Karl Gut, Georg Schilly, Anton Aman, Christian Freeoff and the friend of the Turners, Emanuel Hoffmann, with the job of drawing up, by the next meeting, a plan for the new hall. Now a busy time ensued for the Turners. Drawings were accepted, changes were made, subscription lists for donations to the hall fund were issued, and in one special meeting on Sunday, 25 April, it was reported that the contractor Amos Mason had submitted the low bid for the construction of the new hall, and the building committee was charged with making the contract with him. At that same time the Larned Building was being built by Mr. Amos Mason. The same was finished already up to the roof framing and there it was on the following Monday morning that Turner Christian Freeoff, irrespective of the danger, climbed by ladders up to the roof frames to persuade Turner A. Aman to postpone awarding the Turn Hall contract until the next meeting—but it was too late; the building proceeded.
"Turners Aman and Genzel admit even today that they shared the doubts of Freeoff, and the gloomy days of the 1870’s, when petition after petition had to be made of the members just to be able to pay the interest and maintenance costs of the building, would seem to have perfectly justified the objections of the skeptic. If it needs be said here that it was primarily Turners Freeoff and Genzel who brought the Turn-Verein to the point where it could dare to undertake such an enterprise, then it must seem doubly strange that even these best supporters doubted at that time, when the society had only 16 members, the success of this undertaking.
"On 4 July 1869 the cornerstone was laid with appropriate ceremony. Into the cornerstone, which had been made by stonecarver Mr. Karl Allmang as a gift to the Verein, a sheet metal cap was inserted which contains, among other things, the by-laws of the 21 German associations existing here at the time, together with copies of the local newspapers and a history of the Turn-Verein.
"By the end of July the roof already arched over the enormous building and now followed a time that will remain unforgettable for those who took part in it. Every evening the Turners came after work, with hammers and saws, to the Turn Hall and donated their labor on the interior of the hall. Thus, for example, the flooring of the hall was put in after the workday was done, completely by candlelight; in the same way the Turner restaurant was finished between the hours of 7 to 11 o’clock in the evening. Thus hundreds of dollars were saved for the Verein and the Turners Aman, Wendelin Schwanz, Romald [sic] Häberle, Valentin and Georg Schilly, Richard Bücheler, Fidel Wolfer, Philipp Jung, Philipp Zimmer and others at that time worked undauntingly and were untiringly active.
"On 14 September, the centennial birthday of the famed natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt, the American flag flew for the first time on the flagpole above the hall (which was as yet completed only on the outside); the flag was a gift from the wife of Turner Daniel Schmeer. And on the centennial birthday of Ernst Moritz Arndt—on 26 December 1869—the hall was completed and opened to the public and dedicated with a speech written and delivered by Turner Wilhelm Schmidt." During the building the local Turn-Verein had asked for help from all the other foreign societies around the county but did not receive one cent, so they were dependent upon their own efforts to carry the almost unbearable load. The celebration on 14 September was actually a double celebration. The Turn-Verein societies from here, from Utica, Rochester, Buffalo, Suspension Bridge, and Auburn all marched in a parade through the city and ended up back at the Turn Hall. At the entrance to the same, which was wonderfully decorated, they were welcomed by the building committee, whose chairman, Valentin Schilly, in ceremonial form, presented the key to the hall to Turner and School Commissioner Johann L. Röhner, whereupon the aforementioned new flag was raised.
The other celebration that took place that day, as already mentioned, in honor of Humboldt, began in the morning with a large parade through the main streets of the city in which the military and other associations took part, under command of Grand Marshal General Gustav Sniper. Later there were speeches in Kaiser’s Grove by Messrs. Karl Eckermann, Alexander Fleischmann, and the president of the festival, Wilhelm Dopffel, Sr.
From that time, of the flowering of the Turn-Verein, up to the current day, further details will be reported in another section.
As regards the German newspapers during that time, no changes affected the Central Demokrat. On the other hand, the Onondaga Demokrat was sold by Georg Saul in January 1863 to John L. Röhner. Mr. Saul had received a position in the New York Customs House where he remained for two or three years, after which he went to Missouri and there was once again a preacher until he was old enough to draw a pension and then returned to Syracuse where he died in the year 1886 and was buried in Oakwood Cemetery. He left behind three children: Karl F. Saul, Heinrich G. Saul, and Mrs. Colonel E. S. Jenney of this area.
John L. Roehner had been formerly busy as a typesetter in the printing office of the "Central Demokrat" and began his editorial career with decisiveness and circumspection. In his first editorial he sided completely with the Union and urged all Germans capable of bearing arms to enlist in the Union army. The editorial closed with the assertion that the newspaper henceforth would reveal not the slightest hint of Democratic inclination and that in future would appear under the name of the "Syracuse Union." This sharp editorial moved many young Germans to enlist and the Honorable Andrew White (at present American envoy to the court of Berlin) found such favor in it that he presented the "Union" in the month that followed with a complete new set of type fonts. Röhner was in that decade an influential personality and remained owner and editor of the "Union" until, like his predecessor, he received a position in the New York Customs House and on 10 August 1870 sold the newspaper to Johann Ziegler. Röhner retained his position for many years until he was dropped in the year 1886 by the Democratic government, then he returned here, where he died in the 1890’s. In the years 1868-1870 he was School Commissioner for the Second Ward, and is owed much thanks for his efforts in the acquisition of the German section of the Central Library. [page 193]
Copyright 2002 Michelle Stone.
Warning! No guarantees apply concerning the accuracy of this German-to-English
translation! It is merely a rudimentary and non-professional attempt provided as a public service
by M. Stone using a dictionary and automatic online translation services,
http://www.systransoft.com/Homepage.html
and
http://www.freetranslation.com/.
Those who can offer improvements and corrections, please
email me Re: Deutschen pp. 140-193. Thanks!
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