German Traces Nyc Podcast

Schaller & Weber is the last German butcher shop in the Yorkville neighborhood. Over seventy years after it was founded, the store remains in the family, owned and operated by Schaller’s three sons. Founders Ferdinand Schaller and Anton Weber came … Continue reading →

One of the few remaining German businesses on the Upper East Side, Heidelberg Restaurant continues to serve authentic German dishes to both tourists and regulars who remember the neighborhood when it was known as German Yorkville. Located on the same … Continue reading →

The beginnings of this Upper End Side church are in the sad events of the Slocum Disaster of 1904 when over 1,000 of the Lower East Side’s St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church lost their lives. Many of the victims’ families … Continue reading →

School children doing pushups and jumping jacks in physical education classes throughout the country can thank the German Turner Societies, which were responsible for the introduction of physical education to public schools in America. In 1848, America received a large … Continue reading →

For 140 years, Bloomingdale’s has been a Mecca for shoppers on New York City’s Upper East Side. It opened as Bloomingdale’s Great East Side Bazaar at 938 3rd Avenue on April 17th, 1872, founded by brothers Joseph and Lyman Bloomingdale. … Continue reading →

In the period before the Civil War, German singing societies sprang up across America, created to preserve and promote German cultural and musical traditions. On January 9th, 1847, a group of 25 men of German heritage founded Deutscher Liederkranz der … Continue reading →

The Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Sorrows commenced somewhat inauspiciously—with a hushed mass in a bar room backed by a cow stable. Reverend Bonaventure Frey acquired the room, which sat no more than 130 people, to serve as … Continue reading →

One would be hard pressed to find a better example of the changing ethnic identities of New York neighborhoods through architecture than the First German Baptist Church on East 14th Street. The Church emerged out of the need to serve … Continue reading →

What do you get when you combine a butcher, a safe maker, a brewery owner, a furniture dealer, and a cigar maker? The founding board of Germania Bank. Germania Bank opened in 1869 on the Bowery, a street dominated by … Continue reading →

In May of 1884, Mr. Oswald Ottendorfer stood on a temporary platform at the grand opening of the new German Dispensary building, eulogizing his wife Anna. Each of the event’s speakers shared the stage with a large portrait of Mrs. … Continue reading →

1835 brought with it the Great Fire of New York, which tore through southeastern Manhattan and racked up millions in damages. It was the first of a series of major urban fires across the country that called attention to the … Continue reading →

Many words can be used to describe John Jacob Astor, not all of them complimentary. He was a millionaire, a slumlord, a war profiteer and a ruthless jobber who shipped opium to China and sold liquor to Indians fully aware … Continue reading →

June 15th 1904 was the day of the seventeenth annual picnic of St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church whose members were mostly of German birth or origin. Some 1300 church members boarded a triple-decker wooden ship called the General Slocum. Since … Continue reading →

The tranquility of Tompkins Square Park is misleading. The Elms, many dating back to the 1870’s, the dog run, the playground and the grass typical to many urban parks, are but a thin mask to the turbulent events that took … Continue reading →

It all started as a practical joke. The Prince of Wales was visiting New York, and a great ball was given in his honor. German-American musicians, who were at the time victims of anti-immigrant feelings, were not asked to perform … Continue reading →

It is 1888 and opening night of the German-American Shooting Society Clubhouse. The 1400 club members, made of 24 shooting companies, gather for the last time in their temporary meeting place at the Bowery, and march in unison the short … Continue reading →

To the many “firsts” that German-Americans can take credit for we can add the first branch of the New York Public Library, the Ottendorfer library. While today this area around St. Marks’s place is crowded with Indian curry restaurants, when … Continue reading →