Archives 4

Zehnder’s Holz Brücke (Wooden Covered Bridge)

September 5, 2004 through October 31, 2004

“We have, this week, signed a modest littleagreement with the
Frankenmuth Bavarian Inn of Frankenmuth, Michigan for a covered bridge tobe built across the Cass River. The 204’ bridge will have a traveled way 19’ wide to accommodate two way passenger car traffic to a 350 car parking lot.” Milton S. Graton used these words to close his 1978 book, The Last of the Covered Bridge Builders. The Zehnder brothers, Edwin “Eddie”
Zehnder and William “Tiny” Zehnder had a dream to erect
an old-fashioned covered bridge over the Cass River.
Eddie had first talked about a wooden bridge in 1962
and Tiny had seen Graton’s name in a Grit magazine in 1973.

Graton and his team arrived in Frankenmuth in 1979 to begin construction of the 230-ton, 239-foot bridge. The contract to build the bridge consisted of two handwritten pages. On one page was a simple drawing of a Town lattice style bridge. As Eddie Zehnder explained, “He’s not just a bridge builder; he’s an artist. Plans for that bridge were in his head, not on paper.” The $1.1 million bridge has only 1,000 pounds of non-wooden material, including nails to secure the 25,000 wooden shingles. The Town lattice design can be seen in the photograph of the bridge’s sides.

Beginning in January of 1980, a team of oxen and a capstan were used to move the bridge, at a rate of three inches per minute. Graton compared it to “moving a china cabinet full of china.” The bridge pull was completed January 29, 1980. On September 9, 1980, the Holz Brücke was dedicated.

On March 15,1994 Milton Graton passed away. He was 84 years old and had rebuilt over 30 wooden bridges through his career,
beginning in 1954. The spans ranged from 39 feet to 400 feet in length. The Holz Brücke was Graton’s sixth and largest span. Until 1990, Graton still climbed the roofs to work. Milton’s son, Arnold, took over that work. In 1980 Milton Graton told the Frankenmuth News that if the bridge were properly maintained, it could last 500 years, “… and that would provide a sense of immortality for the Graton family.”

Images by official bridge photographer, Glenn Baker document the bridge from inception to completion. Dye transfer prints by John L. Herzog take a more artistic approach to the bridge construction. Click on the small image to view it in a larger size.

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Reverend A.C. Klammer and St. Lorenz:
A Time of Change

May 26 - August 29, 2004

In February, 1931, by unanimous vote, the Rev. Albert “A.C.” Klammer, of Good Thunder, Minnesota, was called as pastor of St. Lorenz congregation in Frankenmuth. He was installed on April 12, 1931. Pastor Emanuel Mayer asked to become assistant pastor and Pastor Henry Voss would become “Emeritus” (semi-retired). Rev. A.C. Klammer at St. Lorenz Church, 1960sOn May 3, 1931, “After lengthy counsel, it was resolved to have evening English services once a month” as St. Lorenz now had a pastor who was able to preach in the English language. (Click photo for a larger view.)

This decision signaled a major change for St. Lorenz. Until this time all services had been conducted in German. Pastor Wilhelm Loehe of Neuendettelsau organized the settlers who founded Frankenmuth, Michigan. His instructions to them were to form a community where Lutheran German immigrants could worship as they had at home, in the German language. The success of his concept can be measured in that, at the turn of the century, almost the entire congregation spoke German (or the fraenkisch dialect) fluently, having learned the language from their parents at home. Classes at St. Lorenz schools were taught ½ day in High German and ½ day in English in the 1930s. By this time, however, there were non-German-speaking residents in the community who felt excluded.

Change came slowly. The first English services were in the evening, once a month. $100 was spent on an English liturgy and hymnals. In 1932 an evening English service was added on Christmas, Easter and Pentecost. In 1935 English language Christian instruction (Christenlehre) was begun, once a month, and in 1937 a German/English version of the congregational handbook was presented. On November 6, 1938 the congregation voted in a “double-header,” both a 9:30 A.M. German and an 11:00 A.M. English service on the second and fourth Sunday of each month, to begin in February of 1940.

Most pastors’ lives are a balance between the work of the church and life as the father of a family.

In 1976, Mrs. Klammer remembered how she and Pastor Klammer first met and wrote about the family side of a pastor’s life. “Memories! I remember the days of old. Sitting in a small room in a nursing home, one lives on memories … Looking back from the height of 85 years there is much to see.…”

“…the old [at Spirit Lake, Iowa] pastor resigned and in August of 1911 a young preacher by the name of Albert Klammer, fresh out of the   Seminary, came out and took over. Of course, everyone came to church the first time he preached. I also walked up from Orleans [Iowa] to see and meet him, never dreaming I would marry him some day. Rev. and Mrs. Albert Klammer, 1913 marriage portraitOur marriage must have been made in heaven, for why would I have come all the way from Germany and be at Spirit Lake through a quirk of fate just at that particular time? At any rate, that’s the way it was. He stayed one year, resigned, and spent the money he had saved to attend the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. I don’t know if he got any smarter. We had become engaged before he left and we lived on correspondence. When he came back in June of 1913, he was broke and without a job, but we were naïve enough to get married on June 18, 1913 on what little I had saved, at the cottage of the Frank Rhodes. The cottage was named “Sleepy Hollow”. [Albert] got a call to Rapidan, Minnesota and that’s where we began. The Lord was with us through trials and tribulations on our climb up the mountain. Though we stumbled often, He always helped us up again. And so we went on, step by step, ever higher and nearer the goal. God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform. We never did get rich until time to retire, when the congregation here in Frankenmuth gave us several collections, which we put away. We never owned a house nor other property, except the necessary household goods. Times were often hard, especially as the family grew rapidly. With the help of God we raised six boys and four girls and gave them all a good education.”

This exhibit is a joint project of Frankenmuth Historical Museum, St. Lorenz Heritage Committee and the Klammer family reunion committee.

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A Time of Change May 26 - August 29, 2004
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Frankenmuth’s Spark

Feb. 8 through May, 2004

The following is excerpted from Norman A. Krafft’s The Frankenmuth Fire Department Centennial Issue 1904-2004, available through the Museum’s gift shop. His book tells of many situations faced by the fire department. Black and white illustrations include photographs of the vehicles, from a horse-drawn steam-powered engine to a 2002 Pierce Quantum. The exhibit, “Frankenmuth’s Spark,” includes equipment from ca. 1919 and the 1940s, a helmet from a German-American exchange program and photographs of the work done by the Frankenmuth Fire Department throughout their history.

"The year 2004 marks the one-hundredth anniversary of the existence of the Frankenmuth Volunteer Fire Department.

There are hundreds of cities that have paid firefighters that stand by day and night week in and week out to protect the lives and property of their communities. There are also, for every paid firefighter, dozens of men and women who stand by as well, but do it without receiving wages, and often without receiving proper recognition.

The Frankenmuth Volunteer Fire Department is such a unit. It has been in existence for a century as a volunteer group, giving of its time, not only for emergency service, but also for continuous training to assure the community that it remains qualified for its demanding tasks.

In January 1904, the Board of Supervisors of Saginaw County, Michigan received a petition for the incorporation of certain areas of Frankenmuth Township as a village (two other petitions were received requesting that the petition not be granted as it would raise taxes). At the same meeting where the petitions were received, despite the opposition, the supervisors decided to grant the petition for the incorporation and Frankenmuth subsequently became a village. One of the first items of business on the agenda of the Village Council was the organization of a volunteer fire department. At the April 1904 meeting of the Frankenmuth Village council, three men were appointed to look into buying a fire engine. Within the month their recommendation was accepted and the council agreed to purchase a horse-drawn steam-powered fire engine from Geo. W. Haller for $750. The first person to get [to the fire station] would be paid five dollars for the use of his team.

Through the first fifty years of its existence the focus to the Frankenmuth Fire Department was almost entirely on fire protection.

The decade following World War II was a transformation for Frankenmuth. In addition to the increase in residence that required protection the increasing speeds of cars and trucks on the roads and highways of the community caused a flurry of serious accidents, which, in turn created a need for life-saving and extricating equipment. Furthermore, the firefighters would become vital in both helping and protecting the community when nature seemingly overstepped its bounds.

The Frankenmuth Fire Department is entering its second century of service, and as it does it is resolute in its determination to continue its superior service, to acquire equipment that is effective and modern and to do it within the means of the community. The new century will bring challenges that were not thought of in times past, and the department will meet those new challenges as it has before. They will have challenges to maintain an adequate staff and to train and equip them as the community faces a variety of new dangers. Department members are grateful, realizing that they have not suffered a death or serious injury during these one hundred years, and they ask for God’s protecting hand in the days and years to come."

Exhibit Photos

(right) Not all of the emergencies that
call firefighters to their duties are fires. Major events that have required their services included ice storms in the 1970s, a truck-train collision in 1979, a flood in 1986 and a tornado in 1996. (Photograph courtesy of Jim Williams)

(below) Parades, such as this one for the 1989 Bavarian Festival, and educational programs for school children are some of the pleasant duties in a fireman’s life. (Photograph courtesy of Woodward Photography)

The Frankenmuth Spark exhibit will run from February 8 through May, 2004.

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Frankenmuth Christmas Primer 2003

November 25, 2003 through January 31, 2004

Indoor Plumbing, September 1 -October 31, 2003

This exhibit celebrates a luxury introduced to houses over 100 years ago: a water pump in the kitchen. Dr. Lowell Butman has put together this display from his
private collection of pitcherpumps and artifacts from Frankenmuth Historical’s collection.

Pitcher pump is one name for a shallow well or cistern pump(25 feet or less). The name comesfrom the image of a 19th century woman filling a water pitcher from such a pump.

To understand their importance in the 19th and early 20th centuries it is
necessaryto understand how precious clean water was to our ancestors. It was not until the 1880s that city water filtration systems began to eliminate deadly germs. Dysentery, typhoid and cholera epidemics were common in cities. Wells and cisterns (which collected rainwater) were known to be safer watersources. Many local houses, built in that time, had cisterns as part of the basement. But imagine
carrying water from a pump or well eight to ten times each day. Washing, boiling and rinsing a single load of laundry used about 50gallons of water. About ten pumps on the handle would bring up about one gallon of water. Over the course of a year a woman might walk 148 miles to carry over 36 tons of water.

Now imagine the response when a thoughtful husband brought home to his wife a pump that could bring clean water directly into the kitchen.

Dining In Frankenmuth, May 1-August 17, 2003

For almost 150 years, good food has been served at the site of Zehnder's of Frankenmuth restaurant and at five other "hotels" on Main Street in Frankenmuth. Dining in Frankenmuth an exhibit curated by Dee Zehnder, recognizes this heritage of service and good cooking. Dee Zehnder in the Museum Dining Exhibit .

In 1856 Mr. Reichle built the original Exchange Hotel. His wife served as cook. In 1884 Theodore Fischer built the   Union House (later Fischer's Hotel and the Bavarian Inn) across the street. Stahl's Eagle House Hotel, The Commercial House Hotel and the Alex List Hotel also provided food and lodging for travelers (and their horses).Exchange Hotel, built in 1856, Frankenmuth, Michigan Click hotel image for larger view.

Seventy-six years ago William Zehnder, Sr. purchased the
Exchange Hotel property, which had been vacant several years. The exterior was extensively remodeled, in the style of Mount Vernon. The restaurant could seat sixty at a time. On
Mother's Day, 1928, family-style dinners were served to 312 guests at $1.00 per person. The record for number of dinners served is now 5,916 guests (October 19, 1986), according to Zehnder's Trivia
Sheet and History, at http://www.zehnders.com.

Nuechterlein Electric Sales & Service, January 13-April 20, 2003

“Nuechterlein Electric Sales & Service”
celebrates the 50th anniversary of a business
that witnessed the community’s growth in terms of electrical usage. In 1912 Franz Ranke founded Frankenmuth Power and Light Company. The company’s purpose was to provide electricity for Frankenmuth’s first electrical equipment and appliances. Fred Nuechterlein was first hired as a clerk but became a member of the Board of Directors and also started his own business, “Fred G. Nuechterlein - Electrical Contractor.”

In 1952 he sold the business to his employee and nephew,
Lawrence Nuechterlein. In addition to electrical contracting
and appliance sales, Lawrence placed more emphasis on electronics, and began operating under the name Nuechterlein Electric. In 1970 Lawrence sold the business to Tom Fechter but continued to work with Tom until 1986. Tom Fechter restructured the business for growth and change. Theappliance end of the business became Frankenmuth TV & Appliance while the Nuechterlein Electric name   was retained for contract work. In 1973 he hired Tom   Erdman as an intern. By 1980 when Tom Fechter sold Frankenmuth TV & Appliance to Grant Engel, Tom Erdman had become a stockholder of Nuechterlein Electric. “Lawsy” Nuechterlein, Tom Fechter and Tom Erdman worked together for more than 10 years and saw the electrical contracting business grow tremendously. In 1997 Tom Fechter sold Nuechterlein Electric to Tom Erdman. The business is still
going strong, doing commercial, industrial, and residential
wiring all over the state of Michigan. Nuechterlein Electric’s focus
is the same in 2003 as it was in 1952. . . to get the job done on time,
within budget, and with the highest quality in wiring.

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