There was also a German village where a replica of Heidelberg
castle, furniture and all, loomed above quaint cottages at its
base, with old-fashioned German shops and the "Inn of The
Golden Bear" with good beer. The verdant prater or park which
covered two acres near the Manufactures building was a
miniature reproduction of the site on which the Vienna
Exposition of 1873 was held.
The 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition was the first of its
kind in the United States. It marked the 100th anniversary of
the Declaration of Independence, took ten years to plan and
cost more than eleven million dollars. It covered more than 450
acres of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park and drew ten million
visitors to see 30,000 exhibitors, the most important of which
was Machinery Hall filled with new inventions such as electric
lights and elevators.
German Days at the Fair and the Turners
In 1897, the Tennessee Centennial and
International Exposition was held in
Nashville, Tennessee and also featured
German exhibits and, of course, a German
day. And in 1901, even in the backyard of
their historically hostile neighbor, the
German exhibit was non unpopular at the
1900 International Exposition in Paris.
Its snow-capped mountains ran a tram ride through the mountain valleys while peasants in native
dress performed concerts. It even contained the birthplace of Mozart.
The 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York intended
to show the connection between the United States and the other
nations of the Western Hemisphere and to show the benefits of
electric light made possible from Niagara Falls hydroelectric power.
A greatly successful and popular exhibit was "Alt Nürnberg" which
replicated several historic buildings in Nürnberg and contained an
open-air restaurant and concert area on the Midway. Within the
buildings were reproductions of artwork and other cultural treasures
of Germany. It was at this fair where President William McKinley
was shot on September 6th by anarchist Leon Czolgosz, who sneaked
through the receiving line with a revolver concealed in a handkerchief.
It was here where typewriters, a calculator, Edison's telegraph and Bell's telephone were first seen by
the public. The stately "German Building" pictured above drew giant crowds.
The World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893 was
more international in scope than any previous fair, and reflected
the awesome changes brought on by  industry. Chicago built an
entire new city for the Exposition called "TheWhite City".
Foremost among the foreign structures at the Exposition was
the German Building on the shore of the lake, left. June 15th
was German day at the fair, lower left.
"The German House", right, contained a hundred "delicacies of color
and ornament that gladdened the hours in Jackson Park". It cost
$250,000 and had a cupola which rose to one hundred and fifty feet,
a Swiss veranda and Gothic bays. The main portion simulated a chapel
by the inner timber-framing and furnishings. The raftered and galleried
house was filled with displays of rare books.
Performances in its concert hall were
conducted by the musical director of
the Austrian imperial court.
Eight days later, McKinley died of his wounds and Theodore Roosevelt became President.
The Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis, 1904, celebrated the 1803
Louisiana Purchase and intended to demonstrate progress and technological
advancement. More than two hundred buildings covered the exposition area  
of two square miles and  its cost of $19.6 million was double that of the
Columbian Exposition ten years before. It had the first successful
demonstration of wireless telegraphy between the ground and the air in the
United States as well as meteorological balloon experiments which sent
small balloons up to great heights to record temperatures. The Department
of Physical Culture demonstrated the superiority of the Anglo-Saxon
"civilized" man over the supposed "primitives" in the rest of the world.
As one aspect of the fair, the third modern Olympiad, the 1904 Olympic Games, were brought to St.
Louis. More than 3280 Turners took part in physical exercises and competitions. There was also a
1,000 man German choir.
The Luchow-Faust Cafe
seated over 4,800 people.
The St. Louis Inn, a replica
of a German Inn, seated
another 2,500 in its first
class restaurant, the largest
restaurant at the fair. Will
Rogers entertained the  
crowds.
More than $600,000 was raised to finance the building of the exposition
on 184 acres of land north of the city donated by real estate developer
Herman Kountze. On the opening day of June 1, 1898, nearly 28,000
visitors flocked to the Exposition with its Grand Court of impressive
white buildings. Modern technology played a big role in the fair and there
were exhibits from 25 states and territories. Attractions on the Midway
included a "German Village and Scenic Railway". There was also a 2,000
foot long lagoon where people could ride on a swan boat or gondola. A
special power plant operated thousands of incandescent lights which
ceremoniously lit up the fair grounds to the cheers of the crowd.
The late 19th Century was a golden age of the exposition or "World's Fair" and German Americans
and the German Empire played a large part in the most popular exhibits and activities.
Representatives from larger cities in the Trans-Mississippi states founded the Trans-Mississippi
Commercial Congress in 1894 and these delegates met in Omaha in 1895 where William Jennings
Bryant, convinced the group that Omaha was the ideal site for the "Trans-Mississippi and
International Exposition" of 1898. On January 25, 1896, the Exposition Corporation was founded
with the incentive to help the area rebound after depression and drought.
The Turner Movement
Friedrich Jahn, founder of the Turner Society, was associated with this movement. The real impetus for widespread
organization of Turner groups in America came from the 1848 revolution that drove so many Germans to America and
resulted directly in the U.S.Turnverein founded in Cincinnati in 1848 on Friedrich Hecker's initiative. Others followed in
rapid succession and active societies existed from Boston to Richmond in 1850. Although largely a gymnastic society, the
immigrants wished to combine their physical education endeavors with efforts to preserve German culture and
traditions.In its early days, the U.S. Turnverein was a movement whose principles were comparable with those of
German freethinkers' societies. Antislavery, anti-prohibition, and anti-nativism  were basic tenets of the Turner movement
in America.
The membership was dedicated to "cultivation of rational training, both
intellectual and physical in order that the members may become energetic,
patriotic citizens of the Republic." The intellectualism was displayed by
lectures and by the establishment of Turner libraries. Immigrants could enjoy
colorful militia formations and the Germanic gun clubs, the Schützenverein, or
don fanciful uniforms and join companies of German huzzars, fusileers and
riflemen. There were many German American cultural organizations in most
states aside from Turnvereins, including abundant musical societies. Germans
formed choral groups and glee clubs wherever they settled.
The 1905 Indianapolis Turners parade, left, drew thousands
The Turners were also popular among many progressive non-Germans. The Turnverein offered German-style physical
fitness regimes along with ethnic solidarity and support in blending the old and new cultures. The St. Louis Turner Society
was a social athletic club that also offered defensive military training because of the violent "Nativist" demonstrations and
riots in the mid-1850's against German immigrants in some areas. In one of several large meeting halls, young men were
trained in shooting, bayoneting and hand-to-hand combat in addition to gymnastics. Upon advice from Franz Sigel,
German-American militias were formed with Sigel himself instructing volunteers.
This mutual German sentiment gave birth to the first wave of German nationalism and to the student associations at
German universities known as 'Burschenschaften' with their motto of: "Ehre, Freiheit, Vaterland" (honor, freedom,
fatherland).The Wartburgfest, or student festival, at Wartburg castle in October of 1817 was the Burschenschaften's first
major appearance, commemorating both the Protestant Reformation of 1517 and the Battle of Leipzig four years earlier
which had effectively ended French supremacy in Europe. The word "fatherland" was their motto, Germans began to feel
increasingly uneasy with the disparity between sharing one cultural heritage and belonging to one nation but living in 38
separate states.
The cry for national unity became louder and created a threat to the established order. The students chose black, red, and
gold as the colors for their flags, ribbons and caps,the colors of the uniforms of the Lützower Jäger, a volunteer infantry
unit which had distinguished itself in the wars against Napoleon, and also the colors used for the flag of the Deutsches
Reich in medieval times (a black eagle on a golden rectangular cloth attached to a red shaft.)  
The German American institution known as the Turnverein was an important component of their communities. The Turner
movement originated in the early 1800's as part of the effort to liberate the German states from Napoleon's rule. They
combined patriotic and liberal principles with an emphasis on physical training. Napoleon might therefore be credited for
creating German nationalism. As Napoleon had worn thin on the average German, it is said that even Beethoven, who had
written the Eroica with Napoleon Bonaparte in mind, erased the dedication after Napoleon's pompous self-coronation.
Newspapers coast to coast sang ringing praises for the marvelous German
achievements in the scientific and technical fields. But, not only big cities had
"German Day" at the fair. Even small, rural American hamlets such as the
New Jersey town at the left enjoyed Deutscher Tag festivities in which the
whole community took part in the activities..
At the left is part of the spectacular German exhibit at the
1904 World Fair in St. Louis. The German House was an
accurate reproduction of magnificent Charlottenburg Schloss
near Berlin, complete with the grand stairway of the Cascade
Gardens. It housed a fashionable restaurant and exhibited rare
art treasures and samples of interior decorations sent over by
the German Emperor. The Royal Palace contained its own
theater which showed scenes from the Oberammergau
Passion Play. Another treat was a spectacular Alpine village
financed by Adolphus Busch. It had nine acres of mountain
scenery and villages, complete with a stream train and twenty
one buildings with a statue of Andreas Hofer in the center!