Efford, Alison Clark

English

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Marquette Universitye-Publications@MarquetteHistory Faculty Research and Publications History, Department of1-1-2016Milwaukee TurnersAlison Clark EffordMarquette University, alison.efford@marquette.eduPublished version. Encyclopedia of Milwaukee, (2019). Publisher Link. © 2016 University ofWisconsin- Milwaukee. Used with permission.Log In or RegisterSearch Site...Menu Click the image to learn more.Milwaukee TurnersTurnen is simply the German word for gymnastics, but the Turner movement has been defined by its compellingcombination of physical exercise, cultural activity, and civic engagement. The German-American group played aleading role in the public life of Milwaukee, especially in the late nineteenth century. At that time, an estimated one intwelve Milwaukeeans lived in families with ties to the organization, and eight different chapters served the city. At leastsix additional clubs once existed in Washington and Ozaukee counties. “The Milwaukee Turners” is the official name ofMilwaukee’s oldest and largest chapter, which still survives. It is best known for its historical connections to socialismand the event venue at Turner Hall.Turners combined physical training, culture, and politics from the start. In 1811, Berlin schoolteacher Friedrich Jahnbegan using gymnastics to prepare young German men covertly for armed resistance to the French occupation. Afterthe Napoleonic Wars, the organization Jahn founded continued to foster German cultural nationalism. Most Turnerchapters also supported uniting the divided German states under one democratic government, and some agitated forbroader social reforms. Many prominent participants in the German Revolutions of 1848 were members, so there wereTurners among the refugees who left for the United States when the uprisings failed. One of those exiledrevolutionaries, Cincinnati resident August Willich, prompted the establishment of the Milwaukee Turners in 1853.Turner gymnastics, which consisted of distinctive calisthenics routines and apparatus exercises, was the centerpieceof the group’s activity. Masculine strength and agility were especially valued, but the Milwaukee Turners also providedclasses for children and, beginning in the 1880s, women. Gymnasts from Milwaukee competed successfully intournaments, winning the most awards at the 1880 Turnfest in Frankfurt, Germany. Their celebrated trainer, GeorgeBrosius, directed the national college for Turner instructors, which was based in Milwaukee from 1875 to 1889 andfrom 1892 to 1907. In 1875, Brosius was also instrumental in making a Turner-style exercise regime the firstsystematic program of physical education in Milwaukee’s public schools.Turners saw no sharp division between their physical and cultural endeavors. Their organization was quicklyrecognized as Milwaukee’s “center of intellectual [geistig] life for citizens of German descent.” Immigrants could attendGerman-language plays, concerts, or lectures, and socialize at balls, picnics, or at the bar. Men dominated theseevents, but women attended and provided indispensable support, forming their own auxiliaries beginning in the 1880s.Turners also provided highly visible displays of German pageantry and prowess at civic events and festivals.Milwaukee hosted national Turnfests in 1857, 1877, and 1893. From 1868 to 1896 new chapters formed, and in 1883the Milwaukee Turners opened a grand new hall on Fourth Street designed by German-born architect Henry C. Koch.Ethnicity remained important after 1900 despite waning immigration, declining membership, and some chaptersclosing their doors. When the United States entered World War I, the Milwaukee Turners made US citizenship arequirement of membership, but it continued to keep meeting minutes in German until the mid-1920s. By 1940, theMilwaukee Turners was the only chapter left in the city, and the German language could be heard at its events only“on rare occasion.” Yet German-American history and culture remained a regular feature in the Milwaukee Turnermagazine into the 1960s. Since then, the strategy of promoting Turner Hall as a cultural resource has highlighted thegroup’s ethnic past. Turner Hall was listed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1977 and designated aNational Historic Landmark in 1996.Politics has proven more divisive than gymnastics or ethnicity. Turners have not always agreed on how to interpret theprogressive principles summarized in one of their mottos: “Liberty, against all oppression; tolerance, against allfanaticism; reason, against all superstition; justice, against all exploitation!” Initially, Turners vehemently opposedtraditional religion, and few observant Catholics or Lutherans joined. Over time, religious “tolerance” became a moreinclusive ideal, but Turners continued to campaign against restrictions on alcohol consumption and Sundayamusements. Women’s rights were a low priority. Feminist Mathilde Anneke addressed Turners during the 1870s, butthe national organization did not grant women full membership until 1904, and Milwaukee Turners declined to host apro-suffrage speaker as late as 1912.Most Turner chapters around the North opposed slavery, but Turners in Milwaukee were divided. Some activemembers, such as educator Peter Engelmann and editor Bernhard Domschcke, were strong critics of the institution,but other Turners were Democrats who favored compromise. When the Milwaukee Turners finally endorsed theRepublican Party in 1860, a group of members quit in protest. Fighting to preserve the Union was less controversial,partly because it provided an opportunity to showcase German manhood. Enlistment was so high that Turner activitybriefly stalled, and twenty-five members of the Milwaukee Turners died in the war.In the postwar decades, Turners in Milwaukee became more involved in socialist politics. For a brief period in the1870s, socialist Joseph Brucker edited the Milwaukee-based organ of the national Turnerbund. Socialists aired theirviews in Turner meetings and used Turner facilities free of charge. In 1889, the South Side Turners elected VictorBerger leader, and in 1898 Eugene V. Debs spoke at Turner Hall. Yet elite German Americans such as the Uihleinbrothers, Frederick Pabst, and Republican mayor Emil Wallber were also Turners, and they sometimes complainedabout the socialists. After the 1886 Bay View Massacre, three chapters passed resolutions siding with authorities. In1911, the Milwaukee Turners passed a resolution congratulating Socialists on their recent electoral victories, but byonly a slim majority.The relationship between the Milwaukee Turners and socialism was closest during the mayoralty of Frank Zeidler from1948 to 1960. Zeidler was a Turner who had formerly edited the Milwaukee Turner, and he continued to contributearticles while in office. The periodical supported measures “subordinating individual and corporate privilege to thegeneral good,” such as Social Security and collective bargaining.Today, leaders of the Milwaukee Turners take pride in their socialist past, but they implement Turner principles in lesspartisan ways. The Milwaukee Turners holds occasional lectures and was a founding co-sponsor of Fourth StreetForum, a current affairs show that aired between 2002 and 2015. It still provides athletic facilities, including a rock-climbing wall, while the Turner Ballroom Preservation Trust oversees the restaurant and space dedicated to culturalperformance.Alison Clark EffordFootnotes [+]For Further ReadingHormann, Annette. The American Turner Movement: A History from Its Beginnings to 2000. Indianapolis, IN: PrintingEdge, 2010.Pumroy, Eric L., and Katja Rampelmann, comps. Research Guide to the Turner Movement in the United States. SantaBarbara, CA: ABC-CLIO Greenwood, 1996.Explore More [+]© 2016 Encyclopedia of Milwaukee, unless otherwise indicated.Copyright  Privacy  Terms & ConditionsMAJOR SUPPORT PROVIDED BY:View a full list of supporters, donors, and contributors of the Encyclopedia of Milwaukee project.

Milwaukee Turners

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Milwaukee Turners

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