Early 20th century Railroad advertisement of newly cleared land of marketable timber to encourage European immigrants to settle on Midwestern lands. This colored advertising card was issued by the Land Department of the Wisconsin Central Railroad in order to promote the sale of railroad-owned land in northern Wisconsin. One side shows an idealized frontier log cabin home, and the back includes promotional text in both English and German.

From Wisconsin Historical Society(http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/tp-051/?action=more_essay)

“Long before Wisconsin became America's Dairyland, Wisconsin was a beer state. Brewing began in Wisconsin in the 1830s, and by the 1890s, nearly every community had at least one operating brewery. Breweries were as much a part of Wisconsin communities as churches and schools. They supplied steady employment to workers, bought grain from local farmers who in turn often fed brewery by-products to their livestock, and they frequently sponsored community festivals, youth groups, and sports teams. Brewing was intimately tied to Wisconsin's people, particularly its German immigrants, who brought their knowledge and skills with them to North America. Despite beer's popularity and importance to community life, from its beginning the brewing industry fought numerous attempts to restrict its consumption and distribution. Nineteenth century temperance activists and, most profoundly, in the twentieth century prohibition legislation both curtailed its influence.

The process of mashing, boiling, and fermenting grain dates back thousands of years. Beer came to northern Europe around 55 BCE with Julius Caesar's Roman legions and by the Middle Ages, it had become part of everyday life because the boiling and fermenting process

made it relatively free of contamination. European settlers brought their beer with them to North America. The first commercial brewery opened in New Amsterdam, now New York City, in 1612.

As immigration and settlement increased and the population moved westward, breweries followed, and by the 1850s, Milwaukee was contending with St. Louis for brewing supremacy.”

German Immigrants – Document 2

Excerpt: Letter from Charles Steinway to his brother C.F. Theodor Steinway. no date, probably Fall 1852

Dear Theodor, How are you? I hope you are better than I am, since I am now forced to play

the role of the gentleman. I am moored at home since, due to chest pains, I am unable to

work without risking to ruin my health. . . . I have been bothered by it for a year now. The

original cause was due to strenuous tuning. . . The disease itself is in the build of my chest,

that is, in the joints and muscles, and all the doctors have assured me that heart and lungs

are completely healthy. Rest is the only thing that helps since continued exertion makes it

progressively weaker.

. . . From the above you can quite simply conclude that I do not advise you to come here. . .

And I advise the same to everyone, whoever it may be. Because one does have to work

here, more than outside and we get so much used to the better life here that in the end we

believe that the German potato soup tasted better in Germany than the daily roast here. Of

course America offers a home for those who want to work and had no work in Germany and

who generally had to struggle against want and sorrow.

. . . In Germany we had our problems and here we have different ones. In Germany, the

doctor’s bill for an entire year was only one Thaler; here it is more than 50. That is the worst

thing for the Germans any how: very few can stand the climate, almost all people die from

chest and lung diseases, which one has to ascribe to the climate. And yet, New York is one

of the healthier places.

. . . Tell people who do not know a trade to avoid coming here as much as possible, . . . there

is also no way that a man over 21 and without a trade or money can make his fortune here

since nobody takes him to learn a trade.

German Immigrants – Document 5

A 1917 com

ic strip where the character sm

ashes a clown doll present because it w

as made in G

ermany.

German Immigrants – Document 6

William Allen Rogers - Only the Navy Can Stop This (WWI U.S. Navy recruitment poster)Even though Germans were welcome during the period of Immigration, as soon as WWI started, American’s attitudes changed. Here we see a German soldier depicted as a bloodthirsty killer.

German Immigrants – Document 7