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Verein Vorwaerts 400 West Chestnut Street at Burnett Avenue  German Society - The many pioneer Denisonians of
German extraction formed the Vorwaerts Society, a social and cultural group
active here for many years. Built in 1877, the club building stood at the
[southwest] corner of West
Chestnut Street and South Burnett Avenue for many years.  Verein Vorwaerts ("Forward Society") 400 West Chestnut Street at Burnett Avenue "Der Verein Vorwrts wurde 1846 als Arbeiterbildungsverein von Zigarrenmachern
in Bremen gegrndet." The Club/Society Forward was founded in 1846 as a workers club from cigar makers in Bremen, Germany. While founded in a time of great political upheaval in Bremen, it had little to do with politics. It's slogan was "ein bichen mehr Brot, ein bichen mehr Recht und ein bichen mehr Menschlichkeit" or "a little more bread, a little more rights, and a little more humanity". The majority of members were "Industrieproletariats" (landless but paid workers, not enslaved. A citizen of the lowest class made up of people who had no wealth other than their sons.) in the cigar manufacturing sector. At the time this growing group of workers was thorn in the foot of the citizens of the educated in Bremen being described as "Ohne jegliche Erziehung aufgewachsen, schon in der Kindheit durch die Arbeit stark in Anspruch genommen, im allgemeinen nur geringe oder gar keine Schulkenntnisse besitzend, herrschte bei ihnen ein derber und rauher Ton und fhrte die gut bezahlte Akkordarbeit leicht zu Trunk und Kartenspiel und allerlei unsinnigen Streichen." or " No or little schooling, already as children mainly seen as working class, very little in the way of formal school education, dominated by a rude, unfriendly, rough tone, but being a well payed labor that tended to drink and spend time with card games and all kinds of foolish behavior." It was a working class club for the lowest level of employed people in Germany, who liked to party, while at the same time striving to be seen as something better than the rest of the level of society they belonged to. The "Verein Vorwrts" which still exist today is mainly a fitness, dance, gymnastic and walking club in it's present form. Information contributed by William E. Covingtin, taken from original descriptions of the club at the time in documents from the city of Bremen and from the original registry of German clubs or societies.  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 German club was officially chartered July 20, 1903, but had been organized in 1887. Verein Vorwaerts in the German language means "“Society Forward".” [Note: The Sunday Gazetteer of April 17, 1898, states that the state charter was received from Austin by Louis Lebrecht, the Verein’s long-time president, on April 12, 1878. An early Denison City Directory states that the Turnverein Society was established June 1873; this likely was a predecessor of the “Verein Vorwaerts Singing Society and Turn-Verein, organized June 1877” (City Directory for 1887-1888). And a photo published in 1909 shows the building bearing the date 1877.] It was through its social program that the organization attained the popularity pinnacle. In the days when less hustle and bustle to everyday life permitted closer fellowship, the Vorwaerts’ club was the social center where professional and business men and others of ordinary stations in life assembled on the common ground of fellowship for many evenings of genuine entertainment. Across a foaming mug of beer, many friendship knots were tied that held to the grave. It was here that the quaffing of beer in a social way attained the perfection of an art, and many kegs were emptied during the innumerable evenings [illegible] for sobriety. Denison Herald June 25, 1972 Vorwaerts Society Had Early Role Here An interesting organization that was responsible for a colorful and prominent episode in Denison history faded into oblivion several years ago. The Vorwaerts Society was an organization by and for German families, who were well represented among Denison'’s sturdy pioneers. The society, very active for several years, had its own two-story building at the southwest corner of Chestnut and Burnett, which was dismantled more than thirty years ago to make room for an auto used car lot. The last surviving members were Oscar Kollert, Mel Morse, and Hugo Koeppen. Strictly a German institution, the club’'s memberships were open only to those persons who, regardless of nativity, could speak and write the German language. Passive memberships were provided for other persons, however, and while these were not admitted to business sessions, they had access to the club’s attractive social privileges. Numbering 300 members at one time, only two men formerly connected with the club are living today. In the early 1930s, the building was dismantled due to its deteriorated condition. The hall was a two-story building, with the second story once being the ground floor. Here when a new first floor was built from rock, the older frame structure was jacked up to become the second story. The organization’'s social chamber, business hall, and library were quartered on the first floor, with the second story devoted to the dance hall. The German club was officially chartered July 20, 1903, but had been organized in 1887. Verein Vorwaerts in the German language means “"Society Forward".” [Note: The Sunday Gazetteer of April 17, 1898, states that the state charter was received from Austin by Louis Lebrecht, the Verein’s long-time president, on April 12, 1878. An early Denison City Directory states that the Turnverein Society was established June 1873; this likely was a predecessor of the “Verein Vorwaerts Singing Society and Turn-Verein, organized June 1877” (City Directory for 1887-1888). And a photo published in 1909 shows the building bearing the date 1877.] It was through its social program that the organization attained the popularity pinnacle. In the days when less hustle and bustle to everyday life permitted closer fellowship, the Vorwaerts’ club was the social center where professional and business men and others of ordinary stations in life assembled. Denison Herald August 31, 1947 Vorwaerts Was Early Group Here That Has Passed From the Picture Had Large Roster "Verein Vorwaerts, Organized June 1877. Singing and Turning Sections. German and English Sunday School." Robinson, Frank M., comp. Industrial Denison. [N.p.]: Means-Moore Co., [ca. 1901]. Page 60.  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