German-American Citizens League of Greater Cincinnati
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The History of the Feist Log House |
In 1995, the descendants of the Philip Feist family of Delhi Township approached the German-American Citizens League with an offer to give their family homestead to the League. It is estimated that the original log home was built about 1840. In the interest of preserving history, the League decided that making a museum out of the log house would be both a way of preserving the house itself, and also a method of creating a place to preserve the general German heritage of Cincinnati. The house was disassembled and brought to West Fork Park in Monfort Heights in Green Township. It is in this park where the treasured home of the Feist family has once again risen to become the German Heritage Museum.
The German Heritage Museum is always looking for donations (or loans) of items for display in the museum. Items donated are tax-deductible and include such things as old photographs, furniture, family histories, books (in both English and German), prints and paintings (framed or unframed), tools, postcards, letters, glassware, and artifacts of any kind relating to German-American history.
If you have an item you think might fit in with the collection, please contact the museum Curator.
Heinrich Arminius Rattermann (1832-1923), a well-known German-American historian, was born in Ankum, Germany. He came to Cincinnati in 1846 where he founded the German Mutual Insurance Company.
In 1895, Rattermann organized the first German Day, held at the Cincinnati Zoo, with an attendance of 12,000! Part of the entertainment was music provided by the recently formed Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and the day was topped off with fireworks.
As a result of German Day in 1895, it was decided to celebrate this event on an annual basis, and for this reason an organization was created: the German Day Society (Deutsche Tag-Gesellschaft). To reflect the political environment of the times, the name was changed to the German-American Alliance, to the American Citizens League, and finally to the present day German-American Citizens League (Deutsch-Amerikanische Bürger-Liga).
The Bürger-Liga is the umbrella organization of twenty German-American societies in the Greater Cincinnati area. Its purpose is to coordinate, represent and promote German-American interests and culture. In order to do this, the Bürger-Liga sponsors a fund-raising event, the annual German Day in June. It also sponsors German-American Heritage Month in October.
The German-American Citizens League asks that you lend your financial support to one of the most exciting tributes to the area's German-American heritage. In its purest sense, history can never be repeated, but with your help, we can provide future generations an educational glimpse into the roots of the German-American heritage of Greater Cincinnati and America! You may also become part of The Heritage Walk at the museum by donating an engraved brick in honor of your family, ancestors, etc.