On Easter Monday, March 24th 1856, the Saengerbund gave its first public concert with a ball following in the Phoenix Hall next door to the society meeting place, at which, among others the following choral songs were sung; Hunter’s Farewell by Mendelsohn, a hunting song and a march. The program also included solos and duets as well as two- and four-handed piano pieces. It was this concert, through a laudatory report by the long deceased Christian Mueller in the above mentioned newspaper [Deutscher Anzeiger], which spurred the singers to greater enthusiasm. The entrance fee for the concert was fifty cents, with an additional fifty cents to attend the ball.

In 1856 a German Turnverein was organized and the two organizations formed the center of German social life. Almost all of the liberal Germans belonged to one or the other, and many belonged to both clubs. All sorts of festivities were held and one of the high points for all of the German residents of the city and surrounding area was the almost yearly celebration of the national holiday (July 4th) to which the whole family, kids and all, turned out. The singers cooperated willingly in all of these festivities, and even after the Turnverein formed a singing group the two men’s choruses sang together and the minor differences between the two groups were forgotten on these occasions. So, for example, on the 100th birthday celebtation of the German poet Friedrich Schiller the two clubs sang as one chorus and then as two single choruses.

Excursions were occasionally made “on shank’s mare,” that is, on foot for several miles into the country, for example to the Heitinger brewery in Silver Creek Township, and such excursion were very cheerful. The German life in our city was briefly quite different from now, in that the entire german population took part in the pleasures of the clubs.

Already at the end of the 1850’s the Saengerbund had taken part in a National singing fest of the North American Saengerbunds in Chicago. We can, however report no more details about this fest.

In 1863 Mr. Knecht, also leader of the singing section of the Turnverein, resigned as director of the Saengerbund, since leading both clubs came to be too much work. A 22 year-old W.H. Wagner, who took great pleasure in singing and music, but who had relatively little knowledge and experience was chosen as director, and he went eagerly to his work. The club had obtained a piano several years earlier, and on this piano he practiced often late into the night in order to enable himself to properly carry out his obligations.

By the end of 1863 the club had grown so much that the meeting hall was too small, and in February 1864 they moved to the recently vacated rooms of the Freemasons on the third floor of 100 and 102 Stephenson Street. The club experianced many enjoyable and uplifting hours in the twice as big hall. The director at that time received no salary. From time to time he was given small gifts or benefit concerts and the like were held. One such benefit remains unforgettable to the writer. The club held, in addition to their entertainments, monthly dances in the winter of 64 and 65, and on January 19th the dance was for the benefit of the director. The take was far greater than expected, over a hundred dollars.

In the year 64 or 65 the Saengerbund made a move to Hettinger’s Hall (the present Armory Hall), and since the young director now had some work and experience the choir’s accomplishments became better and more tasteful so that we, for example on an excursion to Mineral Point passed with honor and the singers received much applause from that club, which had organized the public celebration. I can not fail to mention also that in August 1864 the German inhabitants of Mendota arranged an excursion here and the local club put on a public celebration in their honor, which occurred in a great fashion. The plan to make a reciprocal visit to Mendota came into being only several years later.

From the 17th to the 19th of June 1869 a songfest of the Saengerbunds of the northwest took place in Galena, and although the local Saengerbund was not a member of that group Galena’s singers invited the locals to the festival and they responded with pleasure. The festival at that time was somewhat different from now. On the first and up to the second afternoon of the festival we were the only out of town club that had arrived and the first concert was sung by our locals and the Galena club.

Various of the farther distant clubs arrived only on the afternoon and evening of the second day in order to cooperate in the public celebration at the fairgrounds on the following day, where the festival president Mr. van Embden gave an address, in which he gave extaordinary praise to the Freeport club and held them up as models to the other singing groups.

For the following year (1870) the local Saengerbund held a private songfest to which the clubs within a 100 mile radius were invited. The Festival was held from 14-16 June and the following organizations were in attendance:

Mens choir from Davenport 21 singers with a 14 man strong band
Mens choir from Dubuque with 22 singers and an 8 man strong band
Harmonie from Mineral Point with 13 singers and an 8 man strong band
Concordia from Janesville with 17 singers
Teutonia from Burlington, Wis. with 18 singers
Saengerbund from Galena with 20 singers
Germania from Sterling with 18 singers
Germania from Rockford with 12 singers
Saengerbund from Mendota with 9 singers

Also two singing clubs from our county took part in the festival, namely the Germania from Davis with 16 singers under the leadership of Mr. A. Althoff, and the Harmonie from Lena with 10 singers under the leadership of Mr. Chr. Brueckner. Additionally the clubs from Dixon and Amboy were represented by delegations. The festival choir, including the local singers consisted of 200 voices.

As festival choir the mass choir sang
The Blue Mountains by Tschirch
Yearning and Echo by Kreutzer and
To the Fatherland by Abt.

The Davenport orchestra and the Germania band from Dubuque cooperated in the main concerts and the last named work was sung with the accompaniment of the local Union Cornet Band.

The festival progressed well in wonderful weather, and Mr. Caspar Butz of Chicago, at that time a well known speaker, delivered the german address, and Attorney T.F. Turner the english. The festival was recognized not only by the Germans of our city, but by the english-speaking fellow citizens, as the most successful that had up to that time taken place. Since our guests were also full of praise for the successful conduct of the festival, the club was invited to join the Saengerbund of the Northwest, and since then has not missed a festival of that organization.

In 1871 a sharpshooting group was formed in the club, and they conducted target shooting and picnics over the course of the summer in a lovely place in the area of the present-day Arcade Addition, which were quite jolly, and about which, many pleasant tales could be told. As we, for example, began singing at one of these get-togethers, one of the most avid second tenors called out loudly in his native dialect “Sing me something pretty!” and we did, too, belting out the fiery song “ To whom shall I bring the first glass.” The avid second tenor, Mr. John Hoebel, had to hear his remark frequently in the following years. The shooting club could excite the singers, among whom several proved to be good shots, only for a short time, and it died out. Singing and music became even more avidly kept up.

From the following years there is nothing especially important to report. We don’t want it to go unremarked, however, that in 1875 the then director of the singing section of the Turnerverein, Prof. Bischoff, with some soloist power from Chicago, presented the entire opera Freischuetz, with the participation of several members of the Saengerbund. In early 1877 W.H. Wagner resigned the directorship of the club, since he felt himself in large measure unqualified to lead a singing festival. The 8th singing festival of the Saengerbund of the Northwest was planned for here and was held from the 19th to the 22nd of June. The aforementioned Prof. Bischoff was named as director of the club and the festival took place under his direction. About 170 singers from the following out-of-town clubs participated: Liederkranz, LaCrosse; Concordia, Janesville; Mens Chorus and Helvetia, Dubuque; Germania, Rockford; Concordia, Watertown; Singing section of the Fr. Association, Milwaukee; Germania, Sterling; Germania, Kankakee, as well as delegations from the Liedertafel and the men’s choir from Milwaukee and the Teutonia from Burlington. The particiption at this festival was scarcely greater than at the private festival held 7 years earlier. This was ascribed to the fact that only a single Milwauke club came in full, and only two others sent delegations since a far greater number had been expected. Our festival committee was therefore a bit disappointed, but the festival proceeded in a satisfactory fashion, and the musical and singing accomplishments were quite good. The festival choruses were:

Bach’s popular orchestra from Milwaukee delivered the instrumental music and the mass choruses were sung with musical accompaniement.

For the year 1887 the local club was forced to hold another singing festival after Dubuque, which was scheduled to host the event, declined to do so because the previous year the Iowa legislature had enacted a strict prohibition law. The Dubuque singers came to the view that under the prevailing circumstances the festival could not be held because a singing festival without a sufficient quantity of beer etc, could not be contemplated. The officials of the Saengerbund of the Northwest urged our singers so long that they finally decided to take on the festival.

Prof. Bischoff had resigned as director following the singing festival of 1877, and W.H. Wagner had again taken the position. Both of the previously held singing festivals had been held in Wilcox’s Operahouse; however for this 13th Bund festival 400 to 500 visiting singers were expected and other arrangements had to be made. After long consultation they decided to build a stage in front of the Taylot Park amphitheater for the singers and musicians, while the listeners could find seating on the stage or in the amphitheater. (The arrangement proved so practical that a similar installation was used for the 50 year jubilee.) Our expectations as to the out-of-town participation were not disappointed, from the Liederkranz, the Allemania and Harmonie in Milwaukee about 160 singers were found; the Orpheus in Chicago sent some 20, men’s choir from LaCrosse 22, the Concordia from Watertown 23, men’s choir from Madison 31, Saengerbund from Dubuque 25, Germania from Rockford 20, men’s choir from Davenport 17, Concordia from Janesville 17, Concordia from Elgin 16, men’s choir from Rock Island 13 etc. So that with the local singers we had a mass choir of more than 400 voices. The festival choruses were:

For the concerts Bach’s orchestra from Milwaukee had again been engaged, as well as two voice soloists – Miss Mathilde Wilde from Chicago and Mr. Jos. Benedikt from MIlwaukee. The afternoon as well as the evening concerts were well attended and high praise was recieved from all sides. At the opening concert Mayor Bergman delivered a welcoming address and the festival went well until the afternoon of the last day when strong thunderstorms struck, just as the picnics were in full swing, and the participants hightailed it back to town. We would have had quite a deficit to make up from this annoying disturbance had not the owner of the park, Mr. J.B. Taylor waived nearly all of the rental fee. We came out about even, without a loss, but also without a profit.

However, we are getting ahead of the story and must go back to something.

In November 1877, only a few months after the second local singing festival, the Saengerbund had joined with the Turnverein under the name Germania Society. From that time on there was a single German social club and it was hoped thereby to strengthen the two divisions of the club, the men’s chorus and the gymnastics team. In 1882 the gymnastics hall, which at the joining of the two clubs was given the name Germania Hall, was renovated inside, and at the dedication of the improved hall the singers, with the cooperation of a number of local ladies and several of the best musicians of our city, held a concert, one part of which consisted of the second act of Flotow’s opera “Stradella.” Miss Alma Meyer (the present Mrs. L. Biersach) sang Leonore, Mr. H.W. Schroeder, one of our best tenors, who regrettably is long dead, had the role of Stradella, Mr. Ben. Stoneman, a local American who was always an eager attractive singer with our society, that of Barbarino and Mr. R. Hefti, who many years ago moved to Chicago, that of Malvolio. The completely locally formed chorus numbered 40 voices and the orchestra 14 pieces. This concert was indisputably among the best that our singers ever accomplished, and the old-timers who were in attendance recall the pleasure of the presentation. The memory is admittedly made more plesant since the occasion brought in nearly $250. The material success is regarded by many as higher than any other form of success.

The years went by, and with them much has disappeared, but the Freeport Sengerbund has survived, and the singers can say with no little pride, that in their society, that is among their own members, during the long years of continued existence squabbles never arose, rather that they cooperated in harmony.

At the end of 1888 the director had led the chorus for 25 years and longed for some peace and relaxation. However, in January 1889 a man recommended to us from Milwaukee, Mr. Bohumil Holub ( as can be seen from the name, a Bohemian) took over the lead, but was released in April after only three months, and then in May 1890 a Prof. E. Lux from Chicago was hired as director and lasted only till the end of 1890. Once more the former director had to spring into the breach willy-nilly and take up the director’s baton.

In January 1894 a Leipzig trained musician, Mr. Ernst F. Tamm arrived here and was moved to take the directorship. Quite alot was accomplished under his leadership, but as a result of disputes between the Saengerbund and the gymnastic section of the Germania Society the singers left the society in February 1896 and held their gatherings and rehearsals in Blust’s Hall. Scarcely a year later our club again rented rehearsal space from the Germania Society and in 1897 reunited with that society, since the earlier differences had been settled. Mr. Tamm kept the leadership of the chorus only until April 1st 1898 and once again Wagner had to assume the office, which he filled an additional four years.