Monday, April 05, 1999
Author probes city's German roots in book
MainStrasse heart of cultural past
BY ANGELA T. KOENIG
Enquirer Contributor
COVINGTON — It's a sunny Sunday afternoon, and a small group of tourists is taking a leisurely stroll along Covington's Riverwalk, which parallels the Ohio River.
Upon nearing the Roebling Suspension Bridge, the tourists stop for a moment to admire a statute that commemorates John August Roebling: the German-American architect and engineer who designed the bridge, dedicated in 1866, that links Kentucky and Ohio and served as a prototype for the Brooklyn Bridge.
“Sind sie Deutsche?” asks a man, a Cincinnatian, who is standing by the statue.
His inquiry (are you German?) leads to a conversation with the tourists — in German — and he learns that the group is from Nuremberg, visiting the area on business. After exchanging pleasantries, the man directs the group to Covington's MainStrasse Village, where he tell them they will find a good German meal and many other similarities to their homeland.
Unbeknownst to the tourists, they have just met Don Heinrich Tolzmann, an expert on German-American history and culture whose newest book is Covington's German Heritage, published by Heritage Books, Inc.
The book — more than 100 pages filled with facts and anecdotes — outlines the course of Covington's German history — from the beginnings in 1763 to its present character as a regional tourist destination.
“I always felt that Covington had been somewhat overlooked. When we speak of German-American heritage here, we almost always think of Cincinnati, when we should really think of Northern Kentucky, too,” he said.
An irony “is that early on Cincinnati was really a center for German immigration and it spread from there, but Covington today has done a lot more to preserve its history and heritage than has been done in Cincinnati,” he said. “Just compare MainStrasse Village to Over-the-Rhine, where many of the old German churches and buildings are crumbling.”
While Cincinnati's German district, Over-the-Rhine, remains in a state of flux, Covington has, over the past 20 years, managed to put MainStrasse Village on the Germanic “places to go” map. The village's commercial center — a five-block area with more than 40 shops and restaurants — consists of privately owned, restored 19th-century German-built structures.
On May 14,15, and 16, for instance, about 300,000 tourists are expected to participate in the city's 20th annual Maifest — a traditional German event celebrating the advent of Spring — and in September another 300,000 are expected to attend the 21st annual Klosterman Family Oktoberfest.
These events, and others, such as Mardi Gras, which was added four years ago and now attracts 20,000 people, serve as fund-raisers to maintain the village's pedestrian areas.
Dr. Tolzmann is director of the University of Cincinnati's German-American Studies program, president of the Greater Cincinnati German-American Citizens League and the author and editor of more than forty books on German-Americana.
“I didn't see enough of the German-American connection available in print when I was growing up, and there needed to be something done to tell that story,” said Dr. Tolzmann, 53, a fourth-generation German, born on a farm near New Ulm, Minn.
He has since gained the reputation as an eminent German-American scholar and historian by teaching courses such as “The German-American Experience,” and cultivating material for the UC Blegen Library's German-American Collection, the largest archival collection of its kind in the world.
John Schaefer, the executive director of the MainStrasse Village Association, said the village as a historic district began to take shape in the mid-1970s, when the city received a $2 million historic-preservation grant from the state. With those funds, he said, the city installed items such as stone pavers for the walkways, benches and traffic islands — similar to those found throughout Germany.
The grant also led to recreating a German-style parklike ambiance at Goebel Park: which was named for the German-American William Goebel, governor of Kentucky in 1900. Also added to the park, in 1979, was the Carroll Chimes Bell Tower: a German Gothic glockenspiel, named in honor of then Gov. Julian Carroll.
Visible from Interstate 75, the glockenspiel plays a 43-bell carillon hourly, and has mechanical figures that enact the German fairy tale “The Pied Piper of Hamelin.”
Just steps away is the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau, which receives more than about 40,000 visitors yearly. It was moved here in the 1970s and is housed in a German stucco-style structure that it shares with the MainStrasse association.
Down the block, at the entrance to the village, stands the Goose Girl Fountain, dedicated in 1980. The fountain's theme is based on a German fairy tale “The Goose Girl” by the Brothers Grimm.
“The interest here is not so much that the village looks like it's German, it's that the people who moved here in the 1800s were German; and it's that German attention to detail that built this neighborhood,” Mr. Schaefer said.
That element is highly visible outside the village as well, said Dr. Tolzmann, adding: “If you look at the immigration patterns, people came to Cincinnati and Covington from the same areas of Germany, but Covington has its own history.”
For example, he cites Mother of God Church at 119 W. Sixth St., considered one of the most architecturally significant 19th-century churches in the region.
The church was built in 1842 by Covington's German Catholics.
Just south of MainStrasse Village is the old Bavarian Brewing Co., established as a brewery in 1866. Toward the end of the 19th century, it produced more than 32,000 barrels of beer annually. The building is now home to an entertainment center called Jillian's.
“It's everywhere,” said Dr. Tolzmann, “and in Covington, I think they have made a great attempt to preserve the material culture in the buildings and the architecture.”
So much so, that the city will be featured in the June/July issue of German Life, a specialty publication covering art, history, culture and travel. The magazine lists Covington as one of the 10-best German-American travel destinations.
Of course, tourists will likely visit the Roebling Suspension Bridge and monument to its maker; and, just perhaps, they'll meet an expert on the city's heritage as well.
Covington's German-Heritage by Don Heinrich Tolzmann is published by Heritage Press, Inc. 1540 E. Pointer Ridge Place, Bowie, MD 20716. Call 1-800-398-7709 or on the Internet visit www.heritagebooks.com
For travel information: The MainStrasse Village Association, 605 Philadelphia St., Covington, 41011 or phone (606) 491-0458 or The Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau, same address, (606) 655-4159.
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