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THE GERMAN AMERICAN HALL BY CHARLOTTE GINTERT FOR TDS PHOTOS BY CHARLOTTE GINTERT
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kron has always been a home for immigrants and refugees. Since its sleepy days as a small canal town to today, the city has been the destination for many seeking safety and a new life. From 1840 to 1880, Germans were the largest refugee group to arrive in the United States and many made Akron their new home. 1848 was a year of revolution in Europe. Germany at this time was a loose confederation of independent states ruled by the aristocracy, very different from the Germany we are familiar with today. The German revolutionaries’ goal was to unite these states and create a new German democratic state, similar to the American model. The revolution ultimately failed, and the aristocracy retained their power. When the revolution failed, those who participated were under threat of imprisonment and execution. If they were able, many fled the German Confederation as quickly as possible, becoming known as the “Forty-Eighters.” The United States was the most popular destination and Germans continued to be the largest
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immigrant population to arrive in the United States until World War I. Akron had been home to Germans since its founding in 1825. There were so many Germans here that it had its own German Music Hall and German language newspaper. Some of its most revered citizens were German immigrants, such as Ferdinand Schumacher, of oatmeal fame, and Paul E. Werner, the successful publisher. Like any immigrant group that arrives in a new city, they lived in the same neighborhoods and shaped them for generations to come. In Akron, one such neighborhood was “Goosetown,” which is now known as University Park. The name came from the geese the first generation German families brought from home and kept in their yards. The neighborhood was approximately bounded by East Exchange Street, South Street, Spicer Street and Washington, now Wolf Ledge Parkway. While the old Burkhardt Brewery and Concordia Lutheran Church are more well-known landmarks, a few other vestiges of the old neighborhood still remain. If you head south on Grant Street, over the interstate and past the Front Porch Cafe, you will come
across the old German American Hall at 835 Grant St. It is a large, blocky, brick building of unremarkable architecture. The most notable feature are two small medallions with heraldic shields, high above the front entrance. Although it may not be exciting to look at, this building represents a notable time in Akron’s immigrant story. It was built in 1929 by the German-Hungarian Mutual Aid Society. At the time, this was one of the largest German language charitable organizations in Akron. Their mission was to assist the many Eastern European refugees who fled the former Austro-Hungarian Empire during and after World War I. Many of these immigrants had experienced severe trauma and arrived impoverished. The society helped them find jobs in the rubber factories, buy or build houses and adjust to their new home. The Hall hosted community events and sponsored traditional musical groups. It was a place to connect, recover and begin a new life. Such organizations are the bedrock of immigrant communities, which often discover that they must find ways to independently help each other, especially when they are discriminated against by the local
October 2021 · Vol 9 · Issue #10
population.
There was a severe anti-German sentiment in the United States during World War I. While earlier Germans had certainly experienced discrimination in the 19th Century, the War raised the xenophobia to a new level. In Ohio, German books were burned, teaching the language was banned in schools, and German place names were changed. This antiGerman sentiment continued through World War II. Having a refuge like the Hall to come together in their free time was very important for the mental health of the community. By the 1950’s the mutual aid society was dissolved and ownership passed to The German Family Society of Akron. This club was founded by the congregation of St. Bernard’s in 1955. The German Family Society remained on Grant Street until 1973 when it moved to its current home at Donau Park in Brimfield Township. Today, the building is home to the Community of Christ Church. //Charlotte Gintert is an archaeologist and a photographer. You can check out her photos at www. capturedglimpses.com and follow her on Instagram at @capturedglimpses.
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