Our History

As early as 1847, a German Quartette Society existed in Houston, and it is believed that members of this group may have founded the Houston Saengerbund on October 6, 1883. Although there is no known record of the founding members, the 1886 officers were Charles G. Heyne, President; Carl Suhn, Vice President; Adam Meiser, Secretary; Carl C Zeus, Treasurer; and Julius Rolke, Librarian. In all probability, these were the men to whom we are indebted for the formal organization of the club. According to an old newspaper article, the first formal meeting occurred on June 1, 1884. Twenty-four singers and fifty non-singers were listed as members.

In 1879, two delegates, but not a singing group itself, from a Houston Männerchor of the city's Turnverein (organized in 1854) appeared at the annual Saengerfest of the Deutsch Texanischer Saengerbund (DTSB) held that year in Austin. The first such event in Texas was hosted by New Braunfels in 1853 at which German choirs from that city, Austin, and San Antonio participated. Represented by 13 singers, a Houston Männerchor participated in a Saengerfest in Galveston in 1881. It performed on this occasion as a triple quartette under the direction of a Professor G. Duvermoy.

It can be fairly speculated that the above group was the forerunner of the Houston Saengerbund, for the group's first home was Turner Hall, the headquarters of the above-mentioned Turnverein. The club changed locations frequently in its early years. In 1887, the dub moved to a building at 31 Main Street at which it also operated an English-German school with Professor Carl C Zeus as principal. In 1890, the location had changed again to Dumler.

Many German immigrants came to Houston in the early 1900s, and it was natural that they were attracted to the Saengerbund. During this period up until just prior to World War I, the membership grew tremendously, supposedly to over 1,000. After the outbreak of the war, however, this trend reversed, but the membership remained large and active enough to support a men's chorus, a concert orchestra, and a theater group.

In the early 1920s, the Saengerbund acquired the Milby Hall on Houston's East End, where a Swiss Chorus was organized under the leadership of Robert Kirmse. In addition to numerous concerts by the German and Swiss groups, movies were shown on Sunday afternoons, followed by dancing, the dance music usually being provided by Leona Kirmse Beck, Sylphia Kirmse Busse, and Elizabeth Janke. In addition to the dance pavilion, the facility contained a bowling alley, a bar, a library, a lounge upstairs for the ladies, and two pool rooms. A Mr. and Mrs. Bechthokl worked there as live-in attendants, Mr. Bechthol taking care of the bar, and Mrs. Bechthokl in charge of the kitchen and dining room.

Membership began to decline in the mid-1920s, and eventually the Milby Hall had to be relinquished. A smaller place downtown was rented, followed by several more locations, until 1935 when Frank Mendel loaned the club enough money to purchase property on Feagan Street, near the intersection of Heights Blvd. and Memorial Drive, and to construct a hall. This property was home to the club for the next 70 years.

A three-day celebration marked the club's 75th anniversary in 1958. The festivities included a Friday evening dinner, a Saturday night dance, and the Sunday singing program. The club hosted the annual Saengerfest in honor of its 100th, 110th, and 120th anniversaries in 1983, 1993, and 2003, respectively. A Ladies Auxiliary begun in 1937 and a Damenchor begun in 1938 were eventually phased into full membership for the women and a mixed choir begun in 1987.

In 2004, due to high maintenance costs and the enormous increase in property taxes because of its desirable location, the Feagan property was sold. Some years earlier, due to declining membership, the main hall had been leased and turned into a restaurant that became the well known Bavarian Gardens. The Saengerbund built and moved to a smaller hall next door. Since the sale of the Feagan property, the Houston Saengerbund has been fortunate to find meeting space at the site of another historical Houston group, the First Evangelical Lutheran Church at Holman and Caroline in Midtown. The congregation, the oldest German Protestant group in the city, was organized in 1851, as the First German Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Note: This history is summarized from the The History of the Houston Saengerbund, by Theodore G. Gish, Ph.D., a publication of the Institute of Texas-German Studies at the University of Houston, and also from histories which appeared in Houston Saengerbund programs.