Missouri Life invites you to a delicious German feast and an exclusive showing of our documentary, Exploring Missouri’s German Heritage. Meet host Meredith Hoenes and author Arthur Mehrhoff, whose book inspired the documentary.

 

The 90-minute documentary will be shown in segments between courses of a fine four-course German feast accompanied by German music and interspersed with entertaining, short (5-10 minute) behind-the-scenes comments from Arthur Mehrhoff, the author of Explore Missouri’s German Heritage book, the editors, the producers, and host of Missouri Life TV and the documentary, Meredith Hoenes. You will also hear from a few of the people featured in the documentary. The documentary itself contains rare archival materials and photographs of early German immigrants as well as context covering every aspect of these immigrants’ lives.

The location of this event, the John B. Busch Brewery, is worth a visit all by itself. You’ve likely heard of the establishment of John B. Busch’s younger brother, Adlophus—the world-famous Anheuser-Busch brewery in St. Louis. But this was an earlier, smaller Busch brewery in Washington, Mo., 50 miles west of St. Louis. This brewery reveals a very typical story of Missouri’s German beer heritage. It was established in either 1854 or 1855 (historical records differ) and continued operating for nearly one hundred years, although Prohibition forced a switch in the product. You can learn more at the event.

Missouri-produced German wines and beer are included with the meal. A special gift bag includes the Missouri Life book Explore Missouri’s German Heritage. The gift bag also includes German and other Missouri-themed goodies. A limited number of tickets are available.

It’s fair to say that no other immigrant group has had a greater influence on Missouri than the Germans. They swarmed into St. Louis and then followed the Missouri River westward in the early 1800s, finding in our rolling hills and broad valleys a beautiful country that reminded them of their beloved homeland in the Old World. We can practically guarantee your amazement at some of the legacies these German immigrants left that still surrounds us today. In addition, by looking back almost 200 years, you may be surprised to find a surprisingly parallel immigration situation to today’s hotly debated immigration topics, which could perhaps help us better envision the future.

There will be a special silent auction at the event to raise money for a scholarship, in memory of Marc Housman, who was featured in the documentary and a source of important information. Marc was the Executive Director of the Washington, Mo., Historical Society at the end of his career.

You can read more about Missouri’s German heritage here, and we hope it whets your appetite to join us for this fun event.

PURCHASE TICKETS

If you have any questions or would like to donate an item to this special silent auction, please email us at [email protected] or call us at 573-514-5453.