Here’s the tale of three interlinked German-American newspapermen. They’re featured at the statue of The Naked Truth at Grand and Russell, and all three lived in Lafayette Square.
A long association begins
St. Louis is often considered a town with French roots. Not to argue the point, this city is an always interesting amalgam of many cultures. One of the most influential was German. Its echoes resonate in both our long brewing and journalism pedigrees. The first wave of Germans ventured to St. Louis in the mid-1830’s. Pamphlets from the Geissen Emigration Society circulated widely in Germany. They portrayed Missouri as a fertile and friendly American Rhineland.
Emil Mallinckrodt founded the Bremen area (now Hyde Park) in 1844. It ensured emigrants a friendly like-minded enclave in which to live. After military efforts to unify Germany in the late 1840’s failed, many middle-class nationalist rebels were forced out. This launched a wave of politically active emigrants toward America.
By 1888, 40% of St. Louis public school children were German. The German American community established community center/gymnasiums called turnvereins, and formed the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church here in 1843. The new arrivals proved industrious, assertive, and highly successful, with several becoming community leaders.
The first big newspaperman raises others
Dr. Emil Preetorius (1827-1905) was raised and schooled in Germany, earning a doctorate of law degree. After fighting for the unsuccessful movement to unify that country, he was forced to leave. Preetorius arrived in St. Louis in 1853 and worked in leather mercantile with his brother until the Civil War. During that period he devoted time to recruiting and organizing German-American troops. Gaining stature through his efforts, he won a seat on the Missouri state legislature in 1862.
In 1864, he became editor of the German language newspaper, Westliche Post. Preetorius drew attention for his crisp clear writing, and often lectured on aesthetics, philosophy, and history. His paper became nationally influential.
In 1867, Preetorius invited General Carl Schurz to join him in managing the paper. With an eye for journalistic talent, Preetorius and Schurz gave a young Joseph Pulitzer his first job as a reporter.
Emil Preetorius was a major civic leader in St. Louis during the 1890’s, and president of the Missouri Historical Society from 1892-1893. When his Westliche Post merged with Carl Daenzer’s Anzeiger Des Westens in 1898, both men retired. The paper itself carried on until 1938.
Preetorius died in his Lafayette Square home at age 78. Below is the headline of his obit, from the New York Times:
He never returned to Germany, stating that when he would, he could not, and when he could, he would not.
He built a house at 2013 Park Avenue in Lafayette Square in 1867. Emil’s daughter Edwina sold the graceful French Second Empire style residence in 1918. It became a boarding house, and met the wrecking ball in 1958. A fairly faithful replica occupied the same site in 2008. Here are a couple photos to compare:
On the left is the Pretorius house in 1939. On the right, 2013 – 2015 Park Ave in 2008.
Daenzer follows the lede
Carl Daenzer (1820-1906) was also associated with the German revolutionary movement in 1848. Sentenced to ten years in prison, he escaped and fled to America. In 1851, he came to St. Louis and secured a position editing Anzeiger Des Westens. With that experience, he, established the German language paper Westliche Post in 1857, becoming its first publisher. Emil Preetorius acquired a financial interest in Daenzer’s paper in 1864, and was appointed editor in chief. Three years later, Carl Schurz was named a partner and worked with Preetorius in the editorial management of the Post.
Daenzer appeared in another essay https://lafayettesquarearchives.com/1870-the-bird-that-decided-to-stay/, regarding his fondness for the birds of his youth in Germany. He and some friends introduced the Eurasian tree sparrow to Lafayette Park in 1870, and it hasn’t migrated far since.
He worked at publishing his paper until consolidating it with Anzeiger Des Westens in 1898. At that point, both he and Preetorius retired. Daenzer then moved back to Germany. In 1874, he built a house in Lafayette Square, at 1730 Missouri Avenue. Following his departure, the home (pictured below) went through a procession of eleven owners. It was an abandoned rooming house when bought and demolished by the state in 1961 during development of I-44.
Third man in
Carl Schurz (1829-1906) escaped Prussia after the same unsuccessful German revolution of 1848-1849. He settled in Wisconsin in 1852. During the Civil War he rose to the rank of General, and led troops at Gettysburg and Chancellorsville. After the war, he established a small newspaper in St. Louis in 1867.
The following year, Missouri sent Schurz to the U.S. Senate. Losing a re-election bid in 1874, he took a role as editor and joint proprietor with Preetorius at the Westliche Post. He stayed on as editor until 1877, when named U.S. Secretary of the Interior.
Schurz lived at 2013 Park Avenue, the Preetorius home, in the late 1860s, and used the address for his taxes until his death.
Amateur photographer and historian William Swekosky stated that Schurz would sometimes deliver speeches from the house at 2013-2015 Park Avenue. From the “top of the bay windows which also serves as a porch….. overflow crowds that stood on (the) sidewalk and street heard Schurz talk on various subjects when the occasion demanded it”.
In 1876, Schurz retired from the paper, moved to New York City in 1881, and became lead editorial writer for the renowned Harpers Weekly. He died in New York City at the age of 86.
All three men, with their lifelines intertwined as can be, were known as “forty-eighters” – a name given to young German rebels from that time. Passionate nationalists and, once in America, abolitionists, they preached and practiced a form of liberal Republicanism. They were seldom at a loss for firm opinion. As Schurz put it, “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right, and if wrong, to be set right.”
Creation of a monument to all three
With tensions between Germany and the U.S. rising in the days leading up to World War I, a Preetorius-Schurz-Daenzer Memorial Association formed in 1913. Adolphus Busch suggested the group and gave $20,000 toward a sculpture competition, won by German William Wandschneider for his proposed Naked Truth monument. After a civic brouhaha over the nudity of the Truth figure, Busch attempted to rescind the award. Wandschneider and his wife came to America and charmed everyone into accepting the statue as depicted. Somewhat ironically, Busch blamed the press for a misrepresentation he had read. He declared the actual statue “pretty fair.” The Women’s Christian Temperance Union attempted to have it melted into scrap for the war effort in World War I, but cooler heads prevailed.
So these three men, vital to the German community both here and nationally, once lived in Lafayette Square. They are memorialized today, just a short way down Russell at the Compton Heights Reservoir. Have a look at the back of the statue. Some florid prose extols the three, and each has a representational logo, that you might call an avatar today. It’s always a pleasure to see The Naked Truth, although she looks like foolishly cold metal in late January.
Research Sources
Dictionary of Missouri History – Christianson, Foley, Kremer, Winn; U of MO Press; 1999
Drawing of St. Louis German Scheutzverein shooting club c/o Battle of Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield.
Encyclopedia Of History Of Missouri; Conard; 1901 p 573-574
Landmarks Association; Ryan J. Reed; https://www.landmarks-stl.org/news/naked_truth_and_the_restoration_of_the_compton_hill_reservoir_park/
Correspondence Of William G. Swekosky; mohist.org
Regional Arts Commission Of St Louis: https://racstl.org/public-art/the-naked-truth/
New York Times Obituary; September 23, 1906 p.9
St Louis Media History; http://www.stlmediahistory.org/index.php/Print/PrintPublicationHistory/westliche-post
St Louis MO Cultural Resources Office; https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/planning/cultural-resources/preservation-plan/Part-I-Peopling-St-Louis.cfm
As Schurz put it, “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right, and if wrong, to be set right.”
Hear! Hear! I would love to be part of a crowd being enlightened below his balcony on Park Ave.