German Iowa & the Global Midwest

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Beer cave underneath the former Union Brewery of Iowa City (now Brewery Square, Linn and Market St.). Photographer: Charles Scott. See the Little Village article from 2013 on Iowa City’s extensive network of beer caves, ice caves, tunnels, and more. Image courtesy of the State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa City.

Swabian Men’s Choir (Schwäbischer Männerchor) of Burlington, Iowa, c. 1910. The region of Swabia is located in southwest Germany, now part of the German federal state of Baden-Württemberg. Image courtesy of the State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa City.

Girls basketball team, Northwest Davenport Turner Society, Davenport, 1929. For more information on the Turner movement in the United States, visit American Turners Local Societies, 1866-2006 at the Ruth Lilly Special Collections and Archives at Indiana University. Image courtesy of the German American Heritage Center, Davenport, Iowa.

Detail from Grant Wood, Veterans Memorial Window, 1929. The figures depicted represent veterans of the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, and World War I. For more information, see the Grant Wood Window page of the Veterans Memorial Commission in Cedar Rapids. Image courtesy of the Veterans Memorial Commission, Cedar Rapids.

Second beer cave underneath the former Union Brewery of Iowa City (now Brewery Square, Linn and Market St.). Photographer: Charles Scott. More information can be found on the Wikipedia page for the Union Brewery. Image courtesy of the State Historical Society of Iowa, Iowa City.

Grant Wood, Veterans Memorial Window, 1929. The bid to fabricate the glass for Wood’s ambitious window was awarded to the Emil Frei art glass company in St. Louis. However, due to the intricate detail of Wood’s design, the glass ultimately had to be manufactured in Munich, Germany. Wood traveled to Munich to supervise production; while there, he encountered the work of late medieval artists, eventually producing his best-known painting, American Gothic, as a result. However, the Daughters of American Revolution accused Wood of being unpatriotic for allowing a German firm to manufacture materials for a U.S. veterans memorial so soon after World War I. Due to the controversy, the work was not dedicated publicly until its restoration was completed in 2010 following the flooding of 2008. Image courtesy of the Veterans Memorial Commission, Cedar Rapids.

“Threshing,” painting by Eve Drewelowe, 1899-1988, who was born Eva Drewlow in New Hampton, Iowa. For more images of Drewelowe’s art, please consult the Eve Drewelowe Digital Collection at the University of Iowa Libraries.

Boys gymnastic team, Central Turner Society, Davenport, c. 1944. The Quad Cities were home to several Turner societies for both men and women. Several still remain active. Additional images and artifacts of Eastern Iowa Turner Societies can be found on the website of the Schuetzen Park in Davenport.

“Summertime with Sis and Soot,” painting by Eve Drewelowe, 1899-1988. Drewelowe, a daughter of German immigrants, received the University of Iowa’s first Master’s degree in studio arts in 1924. For more on her life and work, please see the University of Iowa Libraries page on Pioneering Artist Eve Drewelowe.

Berlin Bakery, Davenport, date unknown. Image courtesy of the German American Heritage Center, Davenport, Iowa.