by Shirley J. Riemer

     The Sacramento Turn Verein came into being as the result of a simple call for the founding of an organization through a notice posted in town on May 28, 1854, translated from the original German and reading as follows:
     "Those gentlemen who intend to participate in the founding of a Turn Verein are kindly asked to sign their name, stating if they want to become active or inactive members of said club."

1839
August 12: Captain Johann Sutter arrives at the site of present-day Sutter's Fort.

1848
January 19: Gold is discovered in Coloma.

1849
March 19: The first issue of the Sacramento Union newspaper is published.
August 1: The first city election is held and the first brick house in the city is finished. The first Baptist and Roman Catholic churches are organized. A second devastating fire levels much of the city.

1850
September 9: California becomes the 31st State

1853
The first telegraphic message passes between San Francisco and Sacramento. The city is flooded. The first public school opens.

1854
May 28: Signatures are gathered to start a Turn Verein in Sacramento
June 2: The signators meet at the home of H. Ehmann, on J Street between 5th and 6th streets.
June 9: A constitution is ratified, effective June 20.
June 20: Temporary officers are elected.
July 5: Membership is recorded at 36.
July 13: Fire, starting in a furniture shop between 3rd and 4th streets and J and K, spreads east on J Street and North to I Street, destroying 12 city blocks, including Turner Hall with all its gymnastic apparatus.
November 15: A singing society, the beginnings of the Turner Harmonie, is formed, with C. Wolleb as director.
December 9: After meeting at various locations following the fire, the members begin meeting at the "Zinc House" in the alley between 7th and 8th streets and J and K streets.
December 10: The Turn Verein constitution is revised.
December 20: Members vote to join the Socialistischer Turnerbund Nordamerikas.
The population of Sacramento, which is made the permanent capital of California this year, is 10,000.

1855
June 18-19: The Turners celebrate their first anniversary, with 40 Turners arriving from San Francisco on the steamer "Senator" to join them. The delegation parades by torchlight through the Sacramento streets, accompanied by a city band, the Swiss Rifle Club, the Sacramento Turners, and the Harmonie. It is greeted at Columbus Hall on the American River by a salute of cannons. The women of the Turn Verein present a flag as "...a sign of friendship the women have for your Turn Verein. We feel that although young, this organization has a great future. In the name of the German women, we wish you 'Gut Heil!""

1856
February: A gunsmith member Carl Böttger designs a seal (for $10), consisting of a sword, a torch and a crossed handshake, symbolizing bravery, liberty and friendship.
April: The organization is officially incorporated as the "Sacramento Turn Verein."
July: A marksman section is organized, but it did not last very long. A Founder's Day event is planned, to be held at a building on the corner of 6th and L streets.
December 4: Ground is broken for the State Capitol. The Sacramento Valley Railroad to Folsom is completed.

1857
February: The Sacramento and Yolo bridges are constructed. The first overland mail service departs from Sacramento via Placerville to Salt Lake City.

1858
September 20: The Turners hold a torchlight parade in honor of the opening of the undersea telegraph line between Europe and America
October 2: The Turners move to a new Turnhalle, their last move into rented quarters

1859
February 12: The Turners decide to leave the North American Turners and join the Pacific turners. The "Turn jacket" is replaced with the "Turn coat." Dues are raised from $1.00 to $2.00 per month. Although it is decided that the Turnfest will be held in Sacramento in 1858, the Turners of the Pacific Coast decide the Sacramento event will be delayed until after the new Turner Hall on K street is completed.
September: The California legislature proclaims Sacramento as the permanent site of the State Fair. (The first State Fair was held in 1852 at Warren's Feed Store on J Street near 2nd Street.)
October 9-11: The Sacramento Turners hold their State Festival. Sacramento Turners meet the San Francisco Turners and several glee clubs at the steamer and escort them to their K Street Turnerhalle, to the accompaniment of a marching band. The first land route from San Francisco to Sacramento becomes a reality.

1860
April 18: A new constitution is drawn and accepted.
June: The Pacific Turnfest is held in Stockton. In this year, the first messenger of the Pony Express leaves Sacramento and the Sacramento Turn Verein establishes gymnastics in Sacramento schools and furnishes its first instructors.

1863
June 14-16: The Pacific Turnfest is held in Sacramento for the first time and is the most extensive held so far. (the first was held in 1860 in Stockton, the next in 1861 in San Francisco and in 1862 in San Jose.) The Turnfest presents a concert and huge parade, escorted by the City Guards, the National Guard and the Sacramento Hussars.

1865
The Turner Library is formed.
April: Members decide to note the death of Abraham Lincoln in the club's minutes.

1867
German Lutherans establish the German Evangelical Lutheran Church (today's St. John's Lutheran Church).

1868
August 30, 31, and September 1: The 8th Annual Pacific Coast Turn Verein Union holds its Turnfest in Sacramento, with many delegates from San Francisco attending.

1870
October 3: The Turners hold a fair to aid the wounded, the widows and children during the time the German armies were in France representing a united Germany. The fair brings in $3,500. The population of Sacramento is 16, 283.

1871
February: A torchlight parade is held in Sacramento, supported by all its German-Americans, to celebrate German unification and the end of the Franco-Prussian war.
April 19: The West Coast Turners decide to join the Pacific Turnerbund again. The Turners send aid to the sufferers from fire damage in Chicago, Wisconsin and Michigan.

1872
May: For their 18th annual picnic, the Turners march from Turner Hall to the depot to board street cars for Richmond Grove, a park located between 19th and 21st streets, extending from Q Street to the alley before R Street.
December 25: The women present to the Turners a beautiful $600 flag of red silk, embroidered in gold with the words, "Frisch, Frei, Stark, Treu." The flag is on display in the Turn Verein Library.

1873
February 19: The Turn Verein's Drama Society is formed, presenting a play and sponsoring a ball.

1874
May 2: The Turners celebrate their 20th anniversary with a picnic, attended by at least 1500 people, at the new 30-acre East Park located on the east side of 31st Street between E and H streets (now McKinley Park). Activities include the usual singing and dancing in the afternoon and exercises including calisthenics, foot races and swimming.
December: The Christmas Ball is a success.

1875
February: The Karneval celebration is a success, bringing in $550. Despite the admission for men of $2.00 and $1.00 for women, a massive crowd attends (Three months later it is decided to increase the admission to $5.00, with only a limited number of tickets to be sold).
March 28: The May festival brings in $454, leading to the decision to pay off the $500 mortgage.

1876
February 21: The Turners hold their 7th Annual Masquerade, which brings in $337.10
December: The Christmas dance brings in $310.85.

1877
November 7: A Turner committee schedules a meeting with the city government concerning gymnastic instruction in the public schools.

1878
April 3: The Drama section is reorganized and a committee is formed to organize the Marksmen's section.
August 10: A celebration of the 100th year since the birth of "Father Jahn" is held in Richmond Grove, including a ball, a theater event and the presentation of busts of Jahn.

1879
June 1-2: Foundation Day, celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Turn Verein, includes a picnic in Richmond Grove and a dance in the Turner Hall.

1880
January 7: The membership drops to 80
July 4: The Turner Harmonie sings at the Fourth of July ceremonies at the Pavilion.
August 27: The Harmonie is rejuvenated with the arrival of the new director of music, Otto Fleissner.

1881
October: A new instructor, Gustav Lohse, arrives and is introduced "with three loud Gut Heils." A graduate of the Gymnastic Seminary in Milwaukee, he is credited with bringing new life to the organization.

1882
In the first half of the year, a Turn Sisters organization if formed.
February 16: The Karneval celebration brings the highest profit ever, $780.
June 18: Despite an unusually short time for preparation, the Turnfest brings in $168.50.
November 17: The Turners' beloved instructor Gustav Lohse dies of typhus, age 23.

1883
January 17: Several German clubs join with the Turners and donate 800 Marks to aid the Silesian flood victims.
February: The Drama section, which was discontinued, is started up again. At the Turnfest in Oakland, Sacramento wins many prizes. The Turners are accompanied by music to the railroad depot and also when the arrive home. The Turner Harmonie wins the first prize at the Turnfest.
March 16: The Turn Verein purchases, for $150, a plot in the Sacramento City Cemetery, 20 by 44 feet in size.
August: Turners attend the Pacific Turn Bezirk Festival in Oakland.
October: The Turn Verein observes the 200th year since the first landing of Germans in America, where they founded Germantown.

1884
January: The 149 Turner members are described as "very active" this year.
March: The Karneval brings in $1,105.40
May: The Turn Verein picnic is held in Richmond Grove.
August 20: Turners do well at the Turnfest in Los Angeles

Sacramento Turn Verein hosts the Pacific Turn Bezirk Festival in 1885. Parades like these were typical for Turners through the years.

1885
February: The annual Masquerade is held at the4 Pavilion at 6th and M streets. Because the tickets cost $1.50 the crowd is not as large as usual.
April 1: A grand Turnfest is held in Sacramento.
May3: The Turners hold their annual picnic.
Early May: Sacramento celebrates a historical occasion, the Floral Festival, to honor Margaret E. Crocker who has donated the Crocker Art Gallery with all its treasures to the City of Sacramento. To honor her, a procession is formed in which all the townspeople participate, including 1800 school children, the Hussars, the Hussar Band and the Turner Harmonie. The floral tributes are dramatic. The Turn Verein's floral display consists of a handsome shield, five feet high and four feet wide. Across the face of the shield, Mrs. Crocker's name is woven in, as well as the name of the Turner organization. At the corners and sides are emblems and the words "Gut Heil."
June 24-25: The Pacific Turn Bezirk Festival is held in Sacramento. The San Francisco and Sacramento Harmonies perform exceptionally well.

1886
April 1: Members of the various Turn Verein groups consist of 165 children, 49 active Turners and 12 women.
March 3: A 12-woman group begins to meet twice a week.
May: The number of children rises to 182

1887
The annual picnic at Richmond Grove is not well attended due to very windy weather, necessitating a shortening of the children's gymnastic events.

1888
June 1: Founders Day, 34 years after the founding of the Turn Verein, is celebrated by an excursion to Placerville.

1889
September 18: Dues are reduced from $1 to 75 cents per month.

1890
June 8-10: For the Turnfest in Oakland, a $5.00 cost for travel is given, resulting in good attendance.

1891
February: A committee is appointed to encourage Turning in public schools.
June 10-12: The Turnfest is held in Sacramento.

1892
June 6: Turning is introduced in the city schools. The instructor falls ill and the city schools take on an instructor using the Swedish system.

1894
January 1: The Harmonie reorganizes. The teaching of the German system of Turning is threatened by tight budgets. the property, valued at $24,150 is free of debt.

1895
January 1: The property is valued at $23,900.
June 22: Sacramento Turners win 11 prizes at the Los Angeles Turnfest.

1898
January 1: The property value is $29,400.

1899
March 11: The Turn Verein suffers difficult times as German immigration slows.
July 30-31: Sacramento is well represented at the Turnfest in San Francisco.

1900
January 1: The singers, who have been lagging in activity, vote to be reorganized.
June 1: Turners celebrate their 46th year with a trip to Dixon for a picnic with the Redmen Singing Lodge.

1901
December 4: To build membership, it is decided to accept members "free," who are age 18 to 25. The members consider it important to renew the Singer's activity.

1902
January 1: A mass meeting is held to support the freedom movement in South Africa
February 4: The last living founder, George Schroth, dies.
June: Sacramento Turners attend the Turnfest in San Jose.

1903
June: The Turnfest is held in Oakland. It is decided to establish a new singing society and 16 singers sign up.

1904 (50th Anniversary)
January 1: Singer membership increases. The 10 actives, 12 children, 24 boys, 16 girls, 9 women and 5 elderly men (Bären) under instructor Chas. S. Knapp represent an increased membership. Captain Frank Ruhstaller is elected as the first speaker.
June 4-6: Sacramento's 20th Turnfest takes place, with Captain Frank Ruhstaller presiding over the festivities of the Golden Anniversary.

1905
May 14: A memorial celebration is held in Turner Hall in honor of the German poet Friederich Schiller, under the auspices of the United German Societies of Sacramento (12 societies, including three singing groups and Woodland).

1906
Sacramento Turners attend the Turnfest in Los Angeles.

1908
April: Turner singers join the newly founded Pacific Sängerbund.
Six Turners attend the 11th German Turnfest in Frankfurt, Germany.

1910
The Sacramento Turners compete with other singing clubs at the First Pacific Sängerbund Festival in San Francisco, bringing home the Austrian Wanderpreis, given by the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph. A formal picture of the harmonie is sent to Kaiser Franz Joseph, who replies through his consulate in San Francisco.

1911
July: The Harmonie sings between races at the Sacramento Driving Club's Matinee at the State Fairgrounds for the benefit of the Home of the Merciful Savior, a facility that cares for disabled children.

1912
A Drum Corps is added to the Turn Verein.

1913
Many Turners and singers participate at the National Turnfest in Denver.

1914
May 23: The Pacific Sängerbund comes to Sacramento for the first time to present a 350-voice concert at the Clunie Theater.

1915
September: the gym classes, especially the youth groups, begin a period of rejuvenation following the hiring of Edwin Bercher of San Francisco as Turnlehrer. Bercher introduces the Youth Masquerade, to become an annual event. He also trains a large team of young men and women who perform at the Panama Pacific International Exhibition at San Francisco and receive many awards. (Bercher remains the Turnlehrer for 30 years, until his death in 1945.)

1916
April: The Turn Verein holds a Shakespeare Feier and furnishes an elaborate float for the parade of the Spring Karneval.
October: The Turn Verein, as a tradition, observes German Day in October each year.
During this year they also participate at the Turnfest in Oakland and at the opening of the famous Causeway.

1917
At the Turnfest in San Francisco, the Sacramento turn Verein's "Damen Klasse" bring home first prize.

1918
The surplus of the Annual Masquerade Ball, some 4320, is turned over to the American Red Cross.
May: A resolution passed to the effect that henceforth Turn Verein business will be conducted in the English language instead of in German (including the minutes of the meetings as well as the bylaws). When the newly elected Turner President M.S. Wahrhaftig is asked if the Sacramento Turn Verein would disorganize as the Joplin Turn Verein has done, he replies: "Why should the local Turn Verein disorganize? The Joplin Verein is not affiliated with the German American Turner Alliance. We don't take into our organization any person as a member unless he has taken out his first citizenship papers. We are doing good work. Nine members are in the service. We have no idea of quitting." In the next meeting it is resolved to turn out in full body for the next Fourth of July parade.

1922
August: Active Turners hold a large "Schauturnen" at which Oakland and San Francisco, as well a team from the University of California, participate.

1925
The Pacific district meeting is held in Sacramento where 29 delegates, representing six Turner groups, decide to conduct all future meetings in English.
August: Turner singers go to San Francisco for the Second Pacific Sängerfest, from which they return with high honors.

1927
The Turn Verein's Handball-Paddleball Club is formed, later to be known as the Handball-Racquetball Club. Handball becomes a major Turn Verein sport from the 1930's through the 1950's. Racquets replace the paddles in the 1960's.
Late Summer: The Turner Harmonie goes to Tacoma to participate in the Gross-Pacific Sängerfest, where they win first prize in their class.

1928
A large group of active Turners and a women's team of 12 travel to Portland to participate in a three-day Turnfest of the Pacific District, including all Western states. Competing teams came from Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Salt Lake City and Denver, besides Portland and Sacramento. At the same time, district headquarters are made in Sacramento. The principal aim is to revive the Stockton and San Jose Turn Vereine. (Marysville went out of existence at the outbreak of World War I.)

1929 (75th Anniversary)
June 1-2: The Turn Verein's Diamond Jubilee is celebrated.
Late June: The Turners find a young choral director in San Francisco, Anton H. Dorndorf, whom they engage to come once a week to Sacramento for rehearsal. As the new director, he settles in Sacramento and remains for 41 years until his death in 1970. Under him the singers participate at the third Grosses Pazifisches Sängerfest in San Francisco and win second prize.

1931
April: The Drama Section, having reorganized, presents its first one-act play, "A Bargain is a Bargain," followed by a German Musical Comedy by the Harmonie. Around this time the active Turners begin making annual trips into snow country - for example, trips to Mount Lassen and Mount Shasta. Also, the Turn Verein keeps its young students busy by enlivening their dances with short vaudeville acts that demonstrate acrobatic abilities.
October 10: The Turner Singers again host members of the Pacific Sängerbund, who come to town to present a Festival Concert in the Memorial Auditorium. The Harmonie sings the opening chorus and the festivities end in a Grand Ball in he Turner Hall.

1932
The Turnfest again takes place in Sacramento. This is the first time since 1904 that a competitive district meeting is held in Sacramento. More than 300 participants line up for the Mass Drill and 186 active Turners take part in the gym tournament.

1933
June: At the district competition in San Francisco, 27 women and 23 men of the Turners, along with more than a dozen teams, vie for championship titles.

1934
May 5: An old traditional German festival, the Bockbierfest, is revived after 16 years, having been interrupted by passage of the Volstead Act in 1918. The event now becomes an annual event for the Turners.
November 3: The highlight of the 80th Anniversary program is the "Wagner-Weber Concert," given by the combined groups of the Oakland and Sacramento Turner Singers, at Memorial Auditorium, with 200 voices, 4 soloists and an orchestra taking part.
December 10: The Harmonie undergoes a change, becoming a mixed chorus. Some 25 women join the group of men.

1935
February: The Harmonie presents its first annual Mardi Gras, with a Queen's contest and is seen as one of the most outstanding events planned in a long time by any Turner group.
July: Active Turners and women take part in the Turnfest in Oakland, performing the compulsory precision calisthenics drill. They not only take first place, but also are praised by the judges for receiving the highest scores of any such team in the records to date.

1936
The National Turnfest is held in Cleveland, where the Turners engage in stiff competition. The Turner Singers of Oakland and Sacramento pool their resources and give a Wagnerian Concert in both cities.

1939
At the fourth Sängerfest of the Gross Pacific Sängerbund in San Francisco, the Harmonie wins first place in the mixed chorus class and receives the Beethoven Wanderpreis, given by the Reichs Musik Kammer, of Berlin, Germany. This prize is on display in the German-American Cultural Center Library of the Turn Verein.

THE WAR YEARS
Many Turners join the Armed Forces, causing a loss in their ranks, with some of the men never returning from the war.

1944
The Harmonie, under its war president Anton H. Dorndorf, celebrates the 90th Anniversary of the Turn Verein by giving a concert for members and friends.

1945
Turnlehrer Ed. Bercher, who served longer than any other instructor, dies.

1948
The Actives organize a Turn Verein Boy Scout troop.

1949
October: The Harmonie, having become the sponsor of an elaborate Goethe Festival, presents a concert and continues giving such performances annually, in German, at the Crocker Art Gallery.

1951
At the fifth National Music Festival of the Pacific Sängerbund, the Harmonie takes first prize in its own class and scores the highest points of all participating groups.

1952
January: The Harmonie presents a benefit concert in the Turner Hall, raising $1,500 for the Society of Crippled Children of Sacramento.

1954 (100th Anniversary)
The Centennial celebration of the Sacramento Turn Verein is planned as a city-wide affair.

1958
Through the efforts of its founder, Freddie Grosklos, the Sacramento Turn Verein Soccer Club is formed and joins the Central California Soccer League.

1960's
Racquets replace the paddles previously used in the popular sport enjoyed by the Turn Verein's Handball-Paddleball Club, formed in 1927

1970
Anton Dorndorf, director of the Turner Harmonie for 41 years, dies. Following him as director is Fedor A. Sinzig.

1971
Dr. William J. Sullivan, Jr., as president of the Sacramento Turner Harmonie, begins his overseeing of numerous Harmonie performances in the Turner Hall as well as in many other locales. His guidance of the Harmonie continues until his untimely death in 2005.

1998
May 30: Following the initiative of Hans Joachim Raschack, the Turn Verein Library, beautifully remodeled, becomes the focus of a grand opening, with city officials and the Consul General of the German Consulate in San Francisco participating. The opening of the Library leads to the formation of the Turn Verein's newest section, the German-American Cultural Center-Library. The team of men who labored tirelessly from beginning to end on the project with Raschack were Franz Bröcker, Alfred Cummings, Günther Laudi and Uli Pelz. Monthly programs are presented in the Library, organized by the Cultural Center.

1999
Fall: The Turn Verein for the first time in its history opens a German Language School, contracting with Irmgard Schlenker, who organizes day and evening German language classes for adults and Saturday classes for children.
December 4-5: The first Sacramento Turn Verein Christkindlmarkt, under the leadership of Thom Seliga, is organized and conducted by the Actives Section, resulting in an annual celebration during the Christmas season in Sacramento.

2002
January: Mitteilungen, newsletter of the Turn Verein's youngest section, the German-American Cultural Center-Library, is launched as a quarterly eight-page publication on German heritage, language, history and culture.

2003
August 20: The Sacramento Turn Verein amends its bylaws to give membership status to qualified persons, regardless of gender. As a result, 21 women are installed as members between November 2003 and may 2004.

2003-Present
Many physical improvements are made in Turner Hall.
The Harmonie loses its longtime president Dr. William J. Sullivan, Jr., in 2005.
The Sacramento Turn Verein launches its internet presence with sacramentoturnverein.com.

 

The Turn Verein Movement, Beginning in Germany

It's 1854: German Immigrants Arrive in Sacramento

150 Years of the Sacramento turn Verein: 1854-Present

Turner Hall - Through 150 Years

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