As settlers in the Nebraska Territory ventured further westward in the late 1880s, a colony of German Americans arrived in today’s Hall County and provided the nucleus of the city of Grand Island.
Quite naturally, one of the first local organizations centered around the German culture which flourished and survives today as the Liederkanz.
John Wallichs, born in Schleswig-Holstein in 1833, immigrated to the United States in 1852. After first locating in Missouri, he moved through several states, arriving in Grand Island in 1861 and became a farmer.
Before statehood Wallichs served in two territorial legislatures representing the thinly-populated counties of Platte, Merrick, Hall and Buffalo. With statehood in 1867 he was elected County Clerk for Hall County and by virtue of being in that office also became the first District Court Clerk for the county.
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As one of the 105 voters who signed the petition to incorporate the city of Grand Island in 1872, he was appointed one of the first five city trustees and was elected the city’s first mayor the following year. In 1880 Wallichs was appointed state auditor and elected Grand Island city clerk simultaneously.
The first Liederkranz in the United States was founded in Philadelphia in 1835. In October of 1870 a group of Grand Island men met to form a club to promote German singing and socializing as a Liederkranz society “to retain and cultivate German music, literature and culture.â€
That November the Liederkranz constitution was perfected and by-laws accepted. The 40 members agreed meetings would be conducted in German, there would be a $2 initiation fee with annual dues of 50 cents per month and that they would meet in the “new wooden Dodge School†to be rented for $3 a month for meetings and set every other meeting as a Maennerchor or men’s choir.
They then elected John Wallichs as their first president, began soliciting donations for purchase of a $400 piano and secured donation of two city lots from the Union Pacific Railroad for an ultimate clubhouse site. Although the Union Pacific felt it would be excellent publicity for the city as well as railroad speculators, they stipulated the deed for the lots would not be effected until the hall was actually built.
Contracts were let for the hall to be built on the southwest corner of First and Walnut streets in August of 1871. The frame, 1 ½ -story building was completed at a cost of $3,275. On completion the new Liederkranz became the city’s unofficial civic center, was used for political gatherings, concerts, lectures and even the “council of Pawnee Nations.†To further the building’s adaptive uses, a stage was added in 1880, while land ownership in the block had expanded to eight lots and the facility was called “the finest and largest hall in the city.â€
Prohibition laws of the 1880s forced Liederkranz to become a “closed society†with new members required to speak German. The group also discussed but did not act on a proposal to build a German school on the property.
Several Liederkranz members formed a parallel group in 1884 called Platt-Deutsch Verein whose motto was “young men hold together solidly.†Although there was no inter-club friction, as both met in the Liederkranz hall, Platt-Deutsch was considered “low German†and Liederkranz as “high German.†Platt-Deutsch then purchased Ott’s two-story icehouse and pond at 1300 West Anna, remodeling the building as their hall.
In 1911 the frame Liederkranz building was moved to the side while Oscar Kirche, a member and architect, designed a new two-story, brick auditorium in the Neo Classical Revival style built on the old site at a cost of $61,757.84 in 1912. With the completion of the new building the old one was razed. During World War I English was accepted as the group’s official language
In 1954 Platt-Deutsch folded into the Liederkranz and in 1978 the hall was elected to the National Register of Historic Places. Today “the oldest club in Grand Island†continues to prosper with around 1,200 members. The building promotes its auditorium as having perfect acoustics for singing. The interior, which has been remodeled several times, still includes a dining room, bowling alley, catering rooms, ballroom and auditorium.
Historian Jim McKee, who still writes with a fountain pen, invites comments or questions. Write to him in care of the Journal Star or at jim@leebooksellers.com.