Society Vorwaerts
Louis Lebrecht was born in Bingen, Germany, in 1848. He came to Denison in 1872, at the age of twenty-four. His first wife, Fannie, died in 1882, after two years of marriage. Then Louis married her older sister, Carrie, and they had seven children. Louis served two terms as mayor of Denison, beginning in 1896. At the age of fifty-four, he suddenly died in December 1902.
Lebrecht was instrumental in establishing the Verein Vorwaerts, a German cultural club organized in 1877. It sometimes was referred to as a “singing club,” but a 1909 publication states that it had “singing and turning sections,” as well as “German and English Sunday School.” Lebrecht financed the building for the organization at the southwest corner of Burnett Avenue and Chestnut Street in 1877. He was called the heart and soul of the society and was said to have spent as much time at its location as at his own home. Lebrecht was the group’s top contributor and served as its president from its inception until his death in 1902. Bereft of its leader, the German society's attendance quickly dwindled. Within a few years it was disbanded and its building abandoned.
The Society Vorwaert building remained vacant for many years. At one time it was used by the National Guard. It was razed when Steakley Chevrolet purchased the property at 400 West Chestnut for a used car lot. Douglas Used Cars also was located on this site. In the year 2000, Chris Bedell, owner of Kindred Hearts Antique Mall, purchased the property.

Denison Daily News
Tuesday, January 6, 1880
pg.3

LOUIS LEBRECHT
Wholesale and Retail Liquor Store – Cigars a Specialty

Every city, in all branches of trade has some house which, in all essential qualities of excellence, rises above all its rivals.  Such a relation Louis Lebrecht occupies in the mercantile interest of Denison.  Energy, enterprise and a liberality in trade has put this house in some respects ahead of all contemporaries.  A glance at his splendid establishment, No. 123 Main street, fully justifies the public partiality which a long course of successful trade has secured to him.  This house was established in Denison in 1873, since which time it has steadily and rapidly augmented its trade, and exercised an observable and important influence upon the mercantile interest of Denison.
Mr. Lebrecht is a wholesale and retail dealer in whiskies, foreign and domestic wines and cigars.  Cigars are a specialty with this house.  He carries the largest stock of cigars of any house in Denison or north Texas.  They are manufactured expressly for this house.  Mr. Lebrecht supplies a large number of houses in Denison, Whitesboro, Gainesville, all sections of the Indian Territory, and even Sherman.  Mr. Lebrecht can handle cigars cheaper than any other house in Denison.
Another conspicuous feature of this establishment, and which forms an important consideration, is his saloon or sample room, where the finest kinds of liquors, wines, beer and cigars are sold.  It has been the persistent purpose of Mr. Lebrecht to build up an establishment which could legitimately have no rival in his line of trade, and how near he has accomplished his purpose the public can judge.  He supplies a trade which extends from Denison throughout all North Texas to the Indian Territory.  It is known throughout the country that his house keeps good liquors, and recommends his goods precisely as they are, and he has necessarily secured the confidence of the entire community and all this part of the State.  Mr. Lebrecht is one of our most enterprising citizens, and withal, a gentleman whom any community may feel proud of.

Mayor Lebrecht built a home for his family around 1890 at 727 W. Gandy St.

Photograph by Mavis Anne Bryant, ca2005

Another Pioneer Called
Death of Ex-mayor Louis Lebrecht. A Remarkable Life Closed. Impressive Funeral Services at the Vorwaerts Hall.
by B. C. Murray
(Sunday Gazetteer, Denison, Texas, December 7, 1902)

The year which is just drawing to a close will be memorable for its number of pioneers who have passed from the stage of life.
The death of Mr. Louis Lebrecht, which took place Monday, terminates a career of unusual interest and pre-eminent usefulness.
The ending of a valuable life in its prime, seems to human reason, wonderful and mysterious waste, but rarely so much so as in this instance.
While Mr. Lebrecht came to Denison in the first years of its existence, at the time of his death was to the best standard of mankind, in his prime. A man of fifty-four has a great deal to look forward to in life. Mr. Lebrecht went to pieces very suddenly. He was an unusually healthy man until within the past few weeks. There was a mental and physical collapse, brought on by financial worry which his friends think might have been avoided. There is no man who has ever lived in Denison whose life has been more closely interwoven with our history than Louis Lebrecht. He has always been a prominent factor in our industrial and social life. We use the expression "social," for he has been president for the past twenty-five years of a society that has always led in social and musical events. His was an irrepressible personality which could never be kept in the background. He played a leading part in every movement in which he embarked. There was nothing conciliatory about his methods when he set out to accomplish an object. His time and thought were consumed in accomplishing whatever he undertook. That he was a leader of men no one will ever deny. Take him all in all, he was one of the most remarkable men who ever lived in Denison. As mayor of Denison he did much for the benefit of the community. Some of his measures did not meet with public approval, but no one has questioned his honesty and sincerity. He was the most active and aggressive public official that has ever been at the head of the city government. He devoted all of his time to official duties. He felt impelled to put his mind, heart, and time into multifarious undertakings, for the benefit of the city, as he thought best, from his standpoint, but not always with the approval of the public.
For the past twenty-five years, he has been the heart, soul, and inspiration of the leading social, musical, and in some respects educational society in Denison - The Society Vorwaerts. In his public life they knew him best. He was by general consent, their leader. Mr. Lebrecht was a very intellectual man, and, in some respects, of the highest ideals. He was, on almost any occasion, able to make an entertaining speech. He was in constant demand when people desired to be entertained. He was a good, true, and loving husband.
Lebrecht had no religion. He was a Jew, but lived outside of the faith of his fathers. He was very radical, dogmatic, on everything touching a future life and religion of whatever sort. He was impulsive, possessing the spirit of independence. He hated the chains which bind a man to creeds.
Mr. Lebrecht was born in Bingen on the Rhine, in Germany. He came to this country at a very early age. He was a young man when he cast his lot with Denison in 1872. His ancestry in Germany are [sic] very distinguished. His father was a Rabbi. His family connections are among the best in the Fatherland.
Mr. Lebrecht was twice married. Fannie, sister to his present wife, died a number of years ago. He has seven children by his present wife, six sons, and the last a baby girl. He had acquired handsome property at the corner of Main street and Houston avenue. When the affairs are settled up, the widow will be in comfortable circumstances. Mr. Lebrecht carried an insurance on his life. In the death of Mr. Lebrecht, Denison has lost a representative and a good citizen. He filled a space in the history of Denison, which will make him long remembered. To his family we offer sincere condolence.

The Last Rites
It was meet that the last respects to the memory of Louis Lebrecht should be paid in Vorwaerts Hall, for all of the associations of his most active life were centered there. In fact it was almost as much his home as the parental roof which sheltered his wife and family. For twenty-five years, he has seldom absented himself.
The coffin arrived at 2:30 and was placed on a dais in the front part of the hall. Streamers of black descended from the walls around the coffin. There was a lovely display of floral tributes placed there by affectionate hands. It is very seldom that more flowers are in evidence at a funeral. For over an hour there was a steady stream of visitors flowing to and from the hall taking a farewell look at the dead.
There was present a very large number of ladies, and a most affecting scene was the presence of a number of colored people who wished to take the last view of the man who had befriended them in life.
The Twin City Band played a funeral dirge, after which Vice President August Knecht, of the Vorwaerts, delivered a short address in German.
Attorney E. J. Smith was then called forward and, standing at the bier, delivered one of the most eloquent and remarkable tributes that has ever been heard in Denison. It has seldom been surpassed by the most studied effort. It was a tribute that should be preserved in the archives of the Vorwaerts Society. The Singing Section contributed to the solemnity of the occasion. There was a large delegation of visiting Germans present from Sherman and other points. There must have been 1,000 people at intervals at the Hall.
The Vorwaerts marched at the head of the procession, then followed a line of carriages that covered several blocks. The pall bearers were B. C. Murray, Theodore Wahls, Wm. Geiger, Alex. Margill, L. M. Fitzgerald, and Chas. Pascal.
At the grave in Fairview Cemetery, Dr. Yeidel delivered a feeling and impressive tribute to the dead in German, and the grave closed forever over all that was mortal of Louis Lebrecht.

His death left in 1902 left his finances in disarray, and wife Carrie sold the property to a photographer, Charles Hoffman.  Walter P. Lebrecht, son of Louis & Carrie, later became a photographer too.