Germans

In the mid-1800s, thousands of Germans moved to Texas after a revolution in Germany. The majority of German immigrants settled in rural Texas. They started the towns of New Braunfels and Fredericksburg Texas in 1845. Both of these towns have a strong German influence still seen today. You can still hear German accents spoken when you walk down the streets visiting these towns. You also still see some of the German influence in many of the buildings and homes that were built with an architecture style from Germany.

The Germans who settled Texas included farmers and teachers, merchants and townsfolk. They differed in dialect, customs, and physical features. Many were farmers in Germany and came seeking economic opportunities, political freedom, and some for religious freedom.

Most Germans who emigrated in the 1840s and 1850s were well-educated, particularly in comparison to the average Texas. They did not speak English and only spoke German. They had to learn a brand new language when they arrived in our country. Many German settlements had distinctive architecture, foods, customs, religion, language, politics, and economy. German immigrants placed great emphasis on early public education, which they enjoyed in their homeland. The ideas of Kindergarten, physical education and vocational (occupation) education were contributions of the Germans. More important, they were leaders in the call for universal education, a notion not common in the U.S. at the time.

German immigrants settled primarily in German neighborhoods and all-German towns, but their cultural traditions and foods soon spread across Texas. Beginning in the 1850s, German holiday traditions, including the Christmas tree, Santa Claus, and even the Easter Bunny became popular in Texas. Germans invented the American weekend. Germans had a long tradition of organized Sunday recreation and were enthusiastic devotees of the Sunday outing. Germans invented the idea of the American weekend. One of the largest water parks in the United States today is called the Schlitterbahn, which is a German word meaning slide. The Schlitterbahn water park is located in New Braunfels, Texas and was built with a German theme to remind us today of the strong German culture in this area. New Braunfels and other towns have yearly festivals called the Wurstfest and Oktoberfest that honor all the German people who immigrated here and to celebrate all the German traditions still seen today. German foods like sausage, sauerkraut, German potato salad and German beer are very popular in these towns today and are served at these festivals.

Source: Reading taken from Social Studies Success

New Braunfels

Example of German Architecture

Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest, annual festival in Munich, Germany, held over a two-week period and ending on the first Sunday in October. The festival originated on October 12, 1810, in celebration of the marriage of the crown prince of Bavaria, who later became King Louis I, to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen. The festival concluded five days later with a horse race held in an open area that came to be called Theresienwiese (“Therese’s green”). The following year the race was combined with a state agricultural fair, and in 1818 booths serving food and drink were introduced. A number of U.S. cities, particularly those with large German American populations, hold Oktoberfests modeled on the original in Munich. These popular celebrations, which feature beer and German food, are an attempt to reproduce the Bavarian sense of gemütlichkeit—cordiality.

Schlitterbahn

Water park in New Braunsfels

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