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Morgan House Landscaping Project

I f you have driven past the Morgan House you have probably noticed an improvement to the landscape. This spring the WCHAS reached out to the Winnebago County Master Gar-

deners Association to do some horticultural improvements on the property. “This is a three to five year project,” board member Ste-ve Cummings said, “with the goal of making the grounds educa-tional and a learning destination.”

Special care has been taken to establish period correct plants around the property. Kathleen Schultz, co-president of the associa-tion, said that a group of 10 master gardeners meet every Thursday at the Morgan House to work on the flower beds. “All the plants are typical of the late 1800’s era,” Schultz said. “We planted the fence line with Stella d’ora Lilly, Asters, Phlox and Tiger Lily, all perennials typical to the Victorian garden.”

The sidewalk leading up to the house has also been beautified with the addition of Boxwood shrubs. The gardeners added wood mulch around the shrubs. Schultz explains that while the mulch is not as histori-cally accurate, it was a more practical look for the land-scape. She said, “mulching may have been straw or nat-ural leaves or twig material in the late 1800s.” The gar-deners plan to add an herb garden and a walking patch around the west side of the house as well.

Stop by the Morgan House during our open hours-- Saturdays 10am to 1pm through September-- and see the great landscaping work the Master Gardeners Association has done.

Board of Directors Randy Domer – President Austin M. Frederick – Vice President Philip Marshall – Secretary Greg Bellmer – Treasurer Patti Yana Denise Blaze Julie Johnson Dean Sandeman Thomas Rowland Paul Janty Steve Cummings Steve Walters Leslie Walfish Eben Johnson

Mission Statement The Winnebago County Historical and Archaeological Society will represent, serve and involve community members in preserving the history of our area.

Contact Us or Submit Articles to WCHAS 234 Church Ave Oshkosh, WI 54901 (920) 267-8007 WinnebagoHistoricalSociety@gmail.com

Editors:

Leslie Walfish Austin M. Frederick

County Fare The NEWSLETTER of the

WINNEBAGO COUNTY HISTORICAL & ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY 3rd Quarter 2017 WINNEBAGO CO. , WIS.

Visit Our Website WinnebagoCountyHistoricalSociety.com

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German Oshkosh & the Turners By Thomas J. Rowland

A German gymnastic movement, spawned by Napo-leon’s occupation of most of the German States in the early 19th century, the Turners (Turnverein) made their arrival in America in the wake of the failed lib-eral revolutions of 1848. This underscores the reality that the Turner movement was rooted in as much po-litical, social, cultural and philosophical underpin-nings as it was in its physical expression. To borrow the somewhat hackneyed phrase, the Turners vowed the holistic approach of a “sound mind in a sound body.” Some of the earliest Turners to arrive in Wisconsin were liberal refugees from the failed revolutions in Prussia. Labeled the “Forty-Eighters” by other Ger-mans, they sunk roots primarily in the city of Mil-waukee and along a due westerly route out to Water-town, the place in which one of the most famous émi-grés of 1848, Carl Schurz, called home. The lack of radical credentials did not preclude other German im-migrants from gravitating to the Turner movement. The iconic symbol of the Turnverein was its creation of Turner Halls, sprinkled throughout Wisconsin and a handful of other states (Indiana, Missouri, Iowa and Pennsylvania to name but a few). In order to attend to its holistic mission the halls served as gymnasiums, lecture centers, theaters, music halls, and as a source of political mobilization. In the late 19th century the Turners played a conspicuous role in American pub-lic education and the nascent labor movements. Sec-ond generation Turners in Wisconsin would figure prominently in the ranks of both the progressive and socialist movements of the early 20th century. Winnebago County in the mid-19th century was popu-lated primarily by the so-called “Yankees” who had migrated into the state from points along the eastern coast in the decades leading up to 1850. They would soon be joined by numerous German immigrants from that point onward. By the close of the 19th cen-tury Winnebago County was overwhelmingly Ger-man in both ethnicity and character. One of the earliest expressions of German solidarity occurred in Menasha. There in 1856 Germans created the Concordia Society which would eventually merge with the Menasha Turner Society in 1888. Turner ac-tivities were conducted in an edifice named Germania

Hall built sometime during the 1860s on 320 Chute Street. In 1927 the organization adopted its final name, the German Benevolent Society. With its fun-damental purpose no longer relevant, the hall was razed in 1963. A banquet facility, named Germania Hall, was build upon the same spot, serving the local population for nearly three decades until it ceased operation.

Oshkosh became the home of not just one but two Turner Halls, one on the North Side and the other on the South Side. Recent research has revealed that a commodious wooden structure was built by the Turn-ers in the downtown section (North Side) of Oshkosh in 1874. The best recreation of the hall reveals that it was not particularly ornate but very utilitarian in character, resembling a common warehouse in many ways. An attempt to turn it into an opera house in 1883 proved less than successful and in 1890 the Turners turned to William Waters to design an im-posing brick structure at the old site on the northeast-ern corner of Merritt Avenue and Jefferson Street. Much larger than the 1874 structure the new hall was capable of providing the full range of Turner activities much like the hall in downtown Milwaukee. With the general “de-Germanization” of so much in Wisconsin following the Great War the Turners were able to sell the building with its crenellated facade to the Wisconsin National Guard as its Company B ar-mory. It served that purpose until the mid-1960s when the building was razed to make way for an auto repair shop. Today Jackson’s Glass Shop occupies the site.

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Sketch of Early Oshkosh Turner Hall ( Drawing courtesy of Richard Nebel )

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Four years before he submitted the blueprints for the North Side Turner Hall, William Waters had drafted plans for another hall on the South Side of town. Lo-cated on the southeast corner of South Main Street and Tenth Avenue, it was an immense and grandiose wooden structure in the then popular Queen Anne style, sporting a soaring corner tower. It is said that an organization known as the Badger Club assumed ownership of the building in 1902 but before long the edifice was transformed into a warehouse for storing paper products. A fire destroyed it in 1920. Visit the Wisconsin Historical Society online to learn more about the Turnverein movement around the state of Wisconsin.

OPL Genealogy Club Are you passionate about exploring your family his-tory and would enjoy connecting with other genealo-gists? The Oshkosh Public Library is looking for any local genealogists interested in getting involved in a Genealogy Club that is being planned for this fall. The group would meet on a monthly basis and feature an educational topic and discussion between mem-bers to share tips and ideas for both amateur and ex-perienced genealogists. If you or someone you know is interested, contact Sandra Toland at the Oshkosh Public Library for more details. Email- toland@oshkoshpubliclibrary.org

Volunteers Wanted Get involved with the WCHAS today and serve on one of several committees that organize events, pre-serve local history, and maintain the historic Morgan House. No matter what you enjoy, we have projects to suit your interests. The Collections Committee has hundreds of historical artifacts that need to be cata-loged, identified, and appraised. A goal has been set to make our entire archival collection available to the public in physical and electronic format. Many of these documents and photos need to be cataloged and scanned. The Revenue Development Committee is looking for great fundraising events to plan and searching for grant opportunities. You can help create and plan a great program, workshop, or exhibit with the Exhibitions and Events Committee. Our biggest asset, the Morgan House, is over a century old and the Property Committee takes special care to preserve the structural and historic integrity of the home. We have several other committees listed below for you to consider. Contact us today to get involved in our mis-sion to preserve and share our local history.

WCHAS Committees

Collections Exhibitions & Events Property Revenue Development Outreach Membership Historic Sites & Markers

South Side Turner Hall - South Main St. and 10th Ave Photo Courtesy of Dan Radig)

North Side Turner Hall - Jefferson St. & Merritt St. (Photo Courtesy of Dan Radig)