Cincinnati Turner Societies: The Cradle of an American Movement

Seeking asylum after the failed German Revolution of 1848, refugees flocked to Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine Neighborhood. They brought their Germanic culture language, literature, music, art, dance, drink, celebration or gemutlichkeit AND, their love for gymnastics. It was here in the small tavern, Hecker Haus, that the American Turners were born, founded by a group of 14 German speaking immigrants. This movement rapidly spread, influencing a growing nation in education, progressive thought, politics, human rights, health, literature and the arts. This is the story of that organization, born and raised in Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, which fostered a great German-American movement.