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The city was founded by the Deutsche
Ansiedlungs-Gesellschaft zu
Pennsylvania
(German
Settlement Society of Philadelphia)
in the 1830s. It was promoted by the enthusiasm of
Gottfried Duden,
who wrote about the area in his Bericht über eine Reise nach
den westlichen Staaten Nord Amerikas (Report of a Journey
to the Western States of Northern America). An early part of
settlers was led by
George Bayer
and Edward Hermann, who bought the land and is considered by many
to be the founder of the town. The town was platted after the
society sold shares in the 11,300 acres (4,600 ha) of
Gasconade River
valley land it had purchased. The
society had almost
utopian
goals of a "heart of German-America" where it could perpetuate
traditional German
culture and establish a self-supporting colony built around
farming, commerce, and industry. The town is named after
Hermann der Cherusker,
a Germanic leader who defeated the Romans in the
Battle of the Teutoburg Forest
in the year 9. In 2009, the City of Hermann celebrated the 2000th
anniversary of the battle, in which the Germanic warrior Hermann
defeated three
Roman legions
and changed the course of history. A bronze statue of the city's
namesake was dedicated, and has been standing since September 2009
in the Hermann Park.[4]
In the 1960s people began to rebuild the
wine industry in the Hermann area. The vineyards and wineries
contribute both to the agricultural and heritage tourism
economies, with wine tastings and visits related to the wineries
increasingly popular.
The Hermann area is known for wineries:
Stone Hill Winery,
the largest winemaking business in the state, and Hermannhof
Winery are in the town. Two miles south of town off Missouri
Highway 100 West is Adam Puchta Winery, the oldest continuously
family-owned winery in the nation, under direct family ownership
since 1855.[5]
Bias Vineyards
is less than eight miles (13 km) east near
Berger on
Missouri Highway 100. Also included in the Hermann AVA are
Oakglenn Vineyards and Winery,
2½ miles east of Hermann; Bommarito Estate Almond Tree Winery; and
Röbller Vineyards and Winery near
New Haven.
The
Katy Trail,
a 225-mile (362 km)-long bike path, passes through McKittrick, a
town on the northern side of the Missouri River across from
Hermann.
What kind of name for
a town is Hermann, anyway? |
