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In 1811, German gymnasium instructor Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, disgusted with his country’s losses to Napoleon, concluded that part of the loss was due to the lack of physical conditioning of the average German soldier. He came up with an elaborate regimen of strength training through gymnastics, naming his program and fitness philosophy turn verein, (pronounced tooorn fe-rahn)  from the German verb “turen” meaning  to perform gymnastic exercises,  and “verein”, the word for  club or organization. The motto of the Turn Verein was “Frisch, Fromm, Fröhlich, Frei.” (Hardy, Pious, Cheerful, Free).

Jahn is credited as the father of modern gymnastics, and was the inventor of the balance beam, horizontal and parallel bars, as well as the vaulting horse. He established Turn Verein clubs across much of a non-unified Germany, but was jailed for his ultra nationalist sentiments in the 1820’s. (He also had problems with Catholics, Jews and the French). The government put strong restrictions on the Turn Veriens during this period, and when he was released, Jahn fades from the leadership of the movement he created.

By the 1840’s, restrictions had been lifted, and the growth of gymnastics clubs throughout the German states was tremendous. Membership was expanded to include non-gymnasts, called “Friends of Turnen”, and the clubs were engaged in the creation of libraries, reading rooms and lecture series, many of them of a liberal political nature, attracting workers and students. Many of the Turnen established classes for children and some even encouraged women to train.  

Jews were not denied admission, and some became leaders of local Turnen branches. Large elaborate gymnastic festivals were staged, and the Turnen called for national unity in this land of separate states. In 1848, revolution erupted in an unsuccessful drive for German unification, and it was during this period that thousands of Germans first came to the United States.

Large communities of German immigrants settled in New York, Texas, Ohio, and other Midwest communities. In New York City, Germans established themselves in Manhattan’s Yorkville, and in Brooklyn, especially in the Williamsburg/Bushwick area, where many became successful brewmeisters, grocers and merchants. The Turn Verein came to America, as well.

In addition to promoting physical education, American Turn Vereins were a cultural sanctuary, preserving traditional German customs, language and celebrations. They also encouraged a new, full life in America, and sponsored English language and citizenship classes. Turn Verein halls usually had a restaurant or beer hall connected to them in some way, a very important cultural necessity for their community.

By the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861, the Turners, as they were now called, had firmly established themselves in America. Fiercely  patriotic, and scornful of slavery, and generally supportive of the Republican Party, Turners made up a portion of Abraham Lincoln’s bodyguard during his inauguration, and the New York 20th Regiment, the Turner Rifles, was made up entirely of Turners, as were regiments in Ohio and Missouri. Over 60% of Turners fought for the Union, although many, especially in Texas, also fought for the Confederacy.

After the war, Turners fought to be integrated into American society.  One of their major goals was to reform the American education system. They encouraged compulsory education of children until the age of fourteen and fought to promote physical education in schools. San Francisco was the first city to introduce the Turner/German system of physical exercise into the regular curriculum, and other cities followed.

In 1866, a Turnlehreseminar, a Turner teacher’s seminary, was established to train physical education instructors. Today, part of that school can still be found in the Dept. of Physical Education in Indiana at Perdue University in Indianapolis.  Today’s physical education classes in schools can be directly credited to the Turn Verein.

The height of the Turner movement was in the 1894, when 317 societies existed in the United States, with over 40,000 members. In Brooklyn, there were at least five chapters listed in turn of the century Brooklyn directories: the Columbia Turn Verein, 168 Driggs Avenue in Greenpoint, the New Brooklyn TV, 191 Sumpter Ave.  in Bedford Stuyvesant, the Greenpoint TV at 142 Greenpoint Ave, and the South Brooklyn Turn Verein at 104 16th Street in the South Slope. All these chapters had less than 100 members.

Today, a Google search shows none of the buildings are even there, except for Sumpter Avenue, which is now housing. The two largest Brooklyn chapters were the Western District Turn Verein, with 125 members, located at 351-353 Atlantic Avenue, and the Eastern District Turn Verein, with 536 members, first located at 68 Meserole St, but moving in 1901 to the Tuttle Mansion on the corner of Gates and Bushwick.  Once the target of Temperance demonstrations, today, the Atlantic Avenue Turn Verein Hall is now home to Horseman Antiques.

The Eastern District Turn Verein chapter was the largest and most important. It was founded in 1853, and its first home was at 68 Meserole Street in Williamsburg. During the Draft Riots of 1863, the Turn Verein was a sanctuary for African American citizens fleeing the violence that killed hundreds. Local records speak of Turner men and boys giving shelter to hundreds of people, saving their lives from the mobs. Out of this Turn, the 28th Regiment was one of the first to the front, joining the Turner Rifles of the NY 20th Regiment, seeing action at Antietam, among other battles.

In 1901, they bought the old Tuttle Mansion, a large Italianate wood-framed villa, and had local German-American architect Theobald Engelhardt design a wing on either side of the mansion. The wing on the Gates Avenue side was especially large. The new headquarters held meeting rooms, a banquet hall and restaurant, a gymnasium and rooms for other athletic activities, along with offices and other amenities.

The Turners operated from here until they lost the building in foreclosure in 1937. The Bushwick Bank held a $20K mortgage, while brewer John F. Trommer held a $15K second mortgage. While that doesn’t sound like much nowadays, the combined mortgages would have been around $800K today. The group’s membership had plummeted after World War I and the Great Depression, and the German population in Bushwick had also declined greatly.

An article in the Brooklyn Citizen noted that this chapter of the Turn Verein was in the Eastern District for 86 years. The article also stated the in its heyday, the organization sponsored a bicycle division, a fencing section, a German language school and a Liederkranz (singing club). The article does not state who bought the facility.

Today, a Spanish speaking evangelical church occupies the 100x100 foot lot. The Tuttle mansion is now gone, as is the Engelhardt extension on the right side of the building. A modest white brick chapel stands on the mansion site, attached to the Gates Avenue extension, which appears largely intact and its façade unaltered.

The Turners are not gone, however.  The organization suffered greatly through two world wars, when being a German organization was not very popular, but many branches survived, and in 1998, celebrated their 150th year anniversary. They are now known as the American Turners, with around 60 chapters nationally, with over 13,000 members. 

The NYC Turn Vereins merged into one chapter, and have a new facility in Throggs Neck, the Bronx. It is open to anyone, still emphasizing physical and mental fitness, patriotism and the “preservation of democracy, and the attainment and maintenance of political, economic, religious, and personal liberty.”

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