Neighborhood News: As Oktoberfest season begins, a look at German-American history in Chicago

As you raise a giant mug of bier at one of Chicago’s many Oktoberfests this fall, you might want to consider the history of the German-American experience in Chicago. 

According to Wikipedia sources, as of the 2000 U.S. Census, 15.8% of people in the Chicago area had German ancestry, and those of German ancestry were the largest ethnic group in 80% of Chicago’s suburbs.

History 

In 1848, the first large group of Germans immigrated, as Wikipedia notes, due to failed revolts in German states. The Germans arriving on or soon after that year became known as the “Forty-Eighters,” per Wikipedia. Irving Cutler, the author of Chicago, wrote that their true underlying motive to come to the U.S. was economic even though they had to immediately leave Germany due to political issues (as well as avoiding service to the Prussian Military.)

According to the Delaware Saengerbund, Germans settling in Chicago played a prominent role in its economic and cultural history. Those who came before 1880 were trained in Germany as  artisans or skilled workers. but the proportion of semi- or unskilled workers willing to take whatever job was offered increased in the last decades of the 19th century. German Americans also disproportionately made up those who participated in the 1886 Haymarket Riot. 

Jefferson Park Volga Germans

Volga German immigrants first arrived in the Jefferson Park area of northwest Chicago in 1894, according to the Volga Germans blog site.  They came from Stahl am Karaman, a Lutheran colony along the Karaman River. Beginning in 1903, other groups followed from Schwed, Enders, and Rosenheim. The settlement of Volga Germans in the Jefferson Park neighborhood overlapped into the neighborhood to the east called Mayfair.

The central business district of Jefferson Park along Lawrence and Milwaukee Avenues was the hub of the Volga German community for years. Over time, descendants of the original immigrants moved to the outlying suburbs of Maywood and Melrose Park. Volga German rites and traditions were once common sights. During the Christmas holiday Belzenickel (St. Nicholas) and Christkindl (The Christ child) would visit Volga German homes bringing gifts for good children while plenty of halvah (a Turkish dessert popular in Eastern Europe) was sure to be on every table.

Through the years, Chicago’s German communities flourished with German-language newspaper, including the Illinois Staats-Zeitung, the Chicagoer Arbeiter-Zeitung, the Chicago Freie Presse, and the Abendpost, according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago, catered to a particular clientele, but each considered the maintenance of the German language to be of utmost importance to all German Americans.

Networks of German organizations built upon and reinforced an ethnic identity based on work, family life, and the ethnic neighborhood, according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago. This community took form in churches, organizations and clubs, newspapers, theaters, and political and cultural activities. It presented itself to the city at large in beer gardens, at fairs, bazaars, and picnics, and in parades through neighborhood streets 

However, anti-German sentiment during World War I took a heavy toll on the influence of Chicago’s German Americans, and many chose to hide their ethnicity out of fear of persecution. Those who became politically, culturally, and economically active among Chicago’s Germans in the late twentieth century were, for the most part, post–World War II immigrants who had not lived through the legacy of anti-German sentiments during two world wars. 

That said, the communities of Lincoln Square and Jefferson Park continued to celebrate their German roots. Lincoln Square, in particular, celebrated its German roots by maintaining shops and pubs with German-speaking proprietors, populated by older German and newer immigrants to America. 

Today: Celebrating German roots throughout the year

Lincoln Square, where Germans settled in droves, still maintains a strong German identity and is home to the Dank-Haus German-American Cultural Center, dedicated to German-American welfare and culture.

 In1875, that Chicago pharmacist Peter Merz opened a small drugstore in Linc Avenue in Lincoln Square. Being of Swiss descent, Merz decided to call the store an “Apothecary” in the European tradition. 

To this day, Merz Apothecary, under different management, stands as a testament to the resilience of the immigrant spirit. 

Every September, German-Americans in Chicago celebrate Von Steuben Day, celebrating the Prussian-born Baron Friedrich von Steuben, who arrived in the United States as a volunteer offering his services to General George Washington in the American Revolutionary War. Von Steuben is still regarded as one of the most important German Americans, as his training of the young American troops made victory against the British possible. He is regarded as one of the fathers of the United States Army.

Fun Fact: The Chicago Von Steuben Day parade was the scene where Matthew Broderick lip-synchs ‘Twist and Shout’ and ‘Danke Schoen’ in the 1986 John Hughes movie Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Additionally, The Square Roots Festival, which is held every summer, celebrates Lincoln Square’s history in music and German culture with live performances from local musicians and craft beer from local breweries. 

For a complete list of Oktoberfests, click here. 

Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago