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Deutschheim State Historic
Site & Museum

DESCRIPTION: Deutschheim State Historic Site is the only museum in Missouri dedicated to the culture and heritage of the German people. It preserves 19th century Missouri German handwork, folk art, customs, traditions, culture and heritage. The museum includes four buildings - two homes, a half-timbered barn and a non-operating winery - located in Hermann, Missouri in the heart of Missouri Wine Country. The homes are the 1840 Pommer-Gentner House and the Strehly House built around 1842-1869.

SLOGAN: Where Missouri's Past Comes Alive

ADDRESS: 109 W. Second St., Hermann, MO 65041

LOCATION: Hermann, about an hour and a quarter west of St. Louis in the heart of Missouri's wine country

PHONE: 573-486-2200

WEB SITE: www.mostateparks.com/deutschheim.htm

GETTING THERE: From Downtown St. Louis, take I-70 west to Missouri Highway 19. Go south on Highway 19 about 15 miles to the town of Hermann and follow the signs to the Deutschheim State Historic Site.

HOURS: Open daily, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

TOURS: Guided tours are given at 9:30 a.m., 11:15 a.m., 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. Tours begin at the site office, 109 W. Second Street. Tours with a German-speaking guide can be arranged with prior notice.

ADMISSION: $2.50, adults; $1.50, students; children under 6, free

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • The Pommer-Gentner House, built in 1840, is an example of a high-style German Kllassizismus (neoclassical) style, now rare in the Midwest.
  • The Pommer-Gentner House is furnished with Chinese and German porcelains, German silver from 1810-1845 and Missouri-German and imported furniture. The house also has a gallery for traveling exhibits.
  • The Strehly House has a more traditional German vernacular front and is representative of later 19th century German brick buildings constructed throughout the Midwest.
  • The Strehly House, with authentic German interior colors throughout, has an extensive collection of 1850s-1890s furnishings, personal possessions and decorations.
  • Behind the Strehly House is a German kitchen garden with a collection of more than 30 varieties of vegetables, most of which are no longer available commercially.
  • Exhibits on gardening and other tools and 19th century country ways are featured in the barn.
  • The Strehly winery, built in 1857, has the only remaining carved wine cask in the Midwest. The building also features one of the few remaining stepped facades in the Midwest.
  • The Strehly's re-created flower garden still has bearing grape vines originally planted in the 1850s.
  • In the winery's ground-floor Print Shop are displays on wedding customs, pottery, kitchen items, tools and other items representing German American life.

ANNUAL SPECIAL EVENTS: Several special events are held each year in the town of Hermann. The Deutschheim State Historic Site often offers extra tours and special exhibits for these events which include Maifest, a celebration with German craft demonstrations and other activities; Oktoberfest, three weekends of German cultural fun in the fall, and Weihnachtsfest, a Christmas festival including traditional baked goods, music, authentic table trees with period decorations and antique toys.

HISTORY: Deutschheim (which combines the German words for "German" and "home") was a term used by early German writers to describe parts of Missouri from the 1820s through the1850s, especially the area from St. Louis west to Boonville on the Missouri River and in Perry and Ste. Genevieve Counties south of St. Louis along the Mississippi River.

In the 1830's, several German settlement societies set up colonies in America, and seven immigrant groups selected Missouri as the place they would begin new lives. One association bought land in Gasconade County and set up the Hermann Colony, the best organized of the settlement societies in Missouri. It was the only colony set up as a joint-stock company and was widely advertised in Germany as well as in the young United States.

Construction of the village of Hermann began in 1838 and while the New Germany founders had expected to arise in the New World never happened, by 1860 more than half of Missouri's foreign-born residents were German. German immigrants included many farm laborers and artisans as well as professors, physicians, scientists, lawyers, merchants, ministers and musicians. Together, they established schools and institutions of high learning, built libraries, newspapers and businesses and farmed the land.

Deutschheim State Historic Site was created in 1979 to preserve and share Missouri's German culture, crafts, lifestyles and traditions. The site opened in 1984.

HANDICAPPED ACCESSIBILITY: Most of the buildings at Deutschheim State Historic Site are handicapped accessible. In the Pommer-Gentner House where there is no handicapped access to the second floor, a video tour is available on the ground floor for handicapped visitors.

WHERE TO GET LUNCH: There are several restaurants in Hermann, many of which specialize in German cuisine.

GIFT SHOP: The Deutschheim Historic Site Museum shop features a wide variety of German imports, German-flavored Americana, Christmas gifts, reproductions of springerle molds from German museums, toys and books, cookbooks, guides for crafters and material for genealogists and history buffs.

WHAT'S NEARBY: There are several wineries in Hermann that offer tours. Katy Trail State Park with access to Missouri's rails-to-trails bicycle trail spanning 250 miles from St. Louis to Sedalia is nearby. The picturesque river town of Washington is 10 miles to the southeast.

PUBLIC RELATIONS CONTACT: Cheryl Hoffman, Tour Assistant, 573-486-2200, Bruce Ketchum, Historic Site Administrator, 573-486-2200

 

Readers should call 1-800-916-0040 to request a free copy of the Official St. Louis Visitor Guide or point, click and explore St. Louis at www.explorestlouis.com