Amana Colonies: Moving to the City
MARCH 5, 2010 through July 2010
The German American Heritage Center is excited to bring you this new exhibit in partnership with the Amana Heritage Society, which opens March 5 and will be up through July 2010. Along with several artifacts, fascinating personal stories from descendants bring to life trades Amana members brought from Germany including blacksmithing, baking, butchering, weaving and more. Several programs and demonstrations will be scheduled throughout the course of the exhibit featuring these trades. The exhibit focuses on the time during the Great Depression when some members of the Amana communal society made a difficult decision to move to the City of Davenport. Davenport had a dense population of Germans during that time and railroad transportation, making the region the ideal place for members to relocate in hopes of new opportunities.
This exhibit is in honor of Henry R. and Marie A. Schaefer who emigrated from the Amana Colonies and the security of the communal society to Davenport to explore a new life outside the system. Bringing their German-Amana heritage of a strong work ethic and specialized skills enabled them to begin a construction business that thrived for over 70 years. Many other families also left the Amana Colonies between the 1920s and 1930s and settled in Davenport. This exhibit is sponsored by the children of Henry R. and Marie A. Schaefer: Richard H. Schaefer, Marilyn L. Schaefer, Carol H. Schaefer, Suzan M. Schaefer, and Jack T. Schaefer.
Cost: Free to museum members or general admission
Amana Colony History
By the Amana Heritage Society
The Amana religion has its roots in the movement of Pietism and Mysticism which flourished in Germany in the early 1700s. All over northern Europe, people dissatisfied with the rituals and intellectualism of the Lutheran Church began to rebel and separate from the Church. These sects placed great emphasis on the personal religious experience of the believer. One such sect, the Community of True Inspiration, held the belief that God still worked and spoke through His followers as He did with the prophets of the Old Testament.
Beginning in the 1830s Europe experienced a dramatic period of unrest. Some members decided to leave Germany because as citizens, they were required to pledge their commitment to serve in armed conflict.
Wars, taxation and difficult economic times directly affected the Inspirationists. Rents increased, fuel for heat became expensive and a drought in 1841 caused massive crop failures on their estates. In addition, the government was increasingly intolerant of the Inspirationist congregations.
In 1842, four men sailed for the United States to search for a new home for the oppressed community. A tract of land, formerly a Seneca Indian Reservation, was purchased near Buffalo, New York. Almost 800 Inspirationists began the immigration to America via sailboat. A community was established in New York state and named “Ebenezer.” All property was held in common. Farms and factories were established.
As the community of Ebenezer prospered it outgrew its land holdings. Another committee was sent to inspect the land in the state of Iowa in late 1854. There, along the Iowa River, they found acres of rich soil, good timber, water, limestone, sandstone and clay necessary for establishing a new community. The first village, Amana, was laid out in 1855. By 1863 six more villages had been established. Each had its own school, farm and craft industries to make it virtually self-sufficient.
The communal way of life was continued in Amana much like it had been in Ebenezer. All property was held in common. Families were assigned housing in buildings owned by the Society. Each individual worked at a designated job. Religious life was the strong unifying factor.
By the 1920s, influence of improved communications and transportation and, finally, the Great Depression made the isolated communal life socially and economically impossible. In 1932 the members of the Amana Society voted to abandon the communal system and incorporate their holdings into a profit-sharing corporation. This separated the economic aspect of the community from the church. The Amana Church Society continued to be the religious foundation of the community.
