thumb|upright=1.2|Gymnastics room in [[Turner Hall (Milwaukee, Wisconsin)|Turner Hall, Milwaukee, ]]

thumb|upright=1.2|3,000 Turners performed at the Federal Gymnastics Festival in Milwaukee, 1893.

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<!--not necessarily nationalist in its dirty sense. Other languages did not use the word 'nationalist'.--> gymnastic" organizations in Europe (such as the Czech Sokol), who participated in various national movements for independence. The Turner movement in Germany was generally liberal in nature, and many Turners took part in the Revolutions of 1848.

thumb|upright=1.2|Group portrait of the St. Louis, Missouri Turnverein in 1860

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 Valley region, Wisconsin, Missouri, and Texas. Several of these Forty-Eighters became Union soldiers and some became Republican politicians. 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.

History in the United States

thumb|right|upright=0.9|Postage stamp commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the American Turners

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.

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.

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. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

Vintage photos of the Milwaukee Turnverein

<gallery perrow="5">

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

</gallery>

Other Wisconsin Turners in 1915

<gallery perrow="5">

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

</gallery>

Monuments in the United States

<gallery perrow="5">

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

</gallery>

Jahn Monument in Berlin with memorial plaques from American Turnvereine

<gallery perrow="5">

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

</gallery>

Turner Halls

<gallery perrow="5">

File:LYRIC THEATER, BOONVILLE, COOPER COUNTY, MO.JPG|Turner Hall<br />Boonville, Missouri

File:Buffalo, Iowa Tuner Hall.jpg|Turner Hall<br />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<br />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<br />Elgin, Illinois

File:Galena Il Galena Historic District Turner Hall and FD1.JPG|Turner Hall<br />Galena, Illinois

File:Holyoke_Turnverein%2C_South_Holyoke.jpg|Holyoke Turner Hall<br />Holyoke, Massachusetts

File:Independent Turnverein, Indianapolis.jpg|Independent Turnverein<br />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)<br />New Orleans, Louisiana

File:New Ulm Turner Hall.jpg|Turner Hall<br />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)<br />Postville, Iowa

File:Rock Island, Illinois Turnhalle.jpg|Turnhalle<br />Rock Island, Illinois

File:Riverside, New Jersey Riverside NJ Turners Hall.jpg <br />Riverside, New Jersey

thumb

</gallery>

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

References

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
  • 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).
  • 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