calledflyer wrote on Feb 2^nd, 2017 at 12:54pm:


Wow, this sounds very good, I think I have to go to my kitchen, inspect the fridge and need to have something good German food!

Well, all my trips along the west of US, I never saw a German restaurant. Could never try how they prepare German meals over there. Maybe they do not have so much German tradition in the western states?

The postcard above shows the „Schützenhof Delmenhorst“ in the year 1904. The town is located in north Germany, south of Bremen. The building was erected in the 1850s and the associated range was enlarged 1894. They tore down the front part of the main building in 1895 and built the facade in the modern historian style back then, it is shown on the post card. 

The clubs has an old history, founded in the middle ages, abandoned in the 1770s, re-established in 1847.
Like usual, the Schützenhof had a big hall inside which was used for all the festivities of all clubs in town, like singers, sporting clubs, etc. Shooters had always the biggest buildings!

Each year, the famous Schützenfest with kings match “Vogelschießen” took place at the Schützenhof. Annual biggest event in town, some days of amusment park and a lot of beer.

After WWI the club sold the building to the town and kept the ranges. The responsible town managers integrated a theater stage. So we can learn that an etablissement can still have the name “Schützenhof”, even when the club is not anymore the owner. 

They held their annual festivities and schützenfests for years in the building, the last event was in 1941. In 1942 June, an allied forces bomb destroyed the main building and parts of the range. So the schützenfest in 1943 and 1944 were held on a smaller scale. Because of war and bad supply situation (thin beer, not much grub) it was just a small event. After WWII, shooting was forbidden, the kings chains and goblets were lost somewhere in a depot, glorious times were over.

No chance to celebrate the 100 years jubilee in 1947. The club was re-established in 1949, the first Vogelschiessen in 1951 was held with crossbows, rifles were still forbidden. Times were changing and the shooters got back the license for rifles and guns. So they decided to build a new range which they still own today. It’s a famous Schützenclub and they had a lot of members. In 1991 they decided to buy more property to enlarge the range and the variety of fire points. 

In 1997 they could celebrate their 150 years anniversary event, with parade and a big range. What a lucky club, they could keep tradition and property!

marlinguy wrote on Feb 2^nd, 2017 at 10:51pm:


Well, I don't think that I will be ever again in Portland. 
But I will keep my eyes open for a good German restaurant... in Germany!

interesting and very informative.   here where I live in SW Michigan and NW Indiana we had very large European Ethnic communities with their neighborhoods and "old country" restaurants and some amusements.  here in MI our German immigrant population were mostly "early wave" conservative farmers rather than the later wave of middle/upper class business folk who seemed to bring the Schuetzen traditions.  their social activity was centered around the churches----some of which were still conducting services in German when I was a kid. 

 In nearby South Bend Indiana there was a large business/industrial population of German and Polish/Hungarian/Czech/Belgians/Southern Europeans)  The Germans had a large downtown "Turners Hall" that was a hub of exercise and entertainment with many musical groups and social activity. fifteen or so years ago that property became to valuable--and probably too expensive to maintain so it was sold and a large office building replaced it.  They then built a large athletic and social center out of the urban center. 
I have never found evidence of a schuetzen club however on the fringes of the urban area there were a number of "Rod and Gun Clubs" that seemed to be oriented to the sportsman of the different ethnic communities. they too seem to have been swallowed up in recent years by urban and suburban sprawl. 

There are two oddities though.  The local newspapers reported on the local sports activity---Notre Dame football and high school basketball being dominant.   However industrial league competition was also important and in its heighday shotgun sports leagues got a lot of coverage and of course bowling------The oddity is that until recently the SouthBend Tribune often used the term "kegler/keglers" in describing bowlers or the bowling events.  A presumed preserved fragment of the germanic  sports traditions.
 
The other is that in the region there was a lot of archery activity when archery became popular in the 1950s there were a lot of of indoor and outdoor ranges and competition. 
  IN the Belgian community they had indoor target leagues sponsored by neighborhood bars/clubs.   I remember from my childhood reading or their various matches and championships and seeing reports on "king matches" high and low bird scores and even some matches where bird shaped targets were shot to pieces in some form of competition----mysterious, fun stuff for a preteen kid fascinated with bows, and now I know, a LOT very old historic traditions.

This just gets better. A sticky is a super idea, with another for the history of the American version, starting with the earliest times. I'd be interested to see how rapidly they evolved from their homeland ways to ones developing in this land. Cool stuff.

frnkeore wrote on Feb 3^rd, 2017 at 11:24am:




Hi Frank.

You have thos table-kegel-game too? Still nowadays? Or it was in the old days when you were a kid?

Reminds me to a story, more than 35 years ago, when I lived in Black Forest. In a village there was a very old tavern, called "Restauration zur Krone".  They had a very old table-kegel-game too. We called the tavern just “cob web hotel”, but it was a clean place, for sure. Just a very old place.

The ceilings were very low and also the door frames. Was original old from the 1880s or older. Usually the tavern should be closed, because they were not anymore along the current law when it comes to safety in public restaurants. No emergency exits, the low ceilings, no modern restrooms, and so on.
But the owner family got a special permit to run the tavern as long as their grandma (who was the owner) is still alive. I think the old lady must have been at least 100 years! Well, she looked like this. 

The grandma didn’t work anymore in the tavern, her daughter and grandkids served the customers. They had the best beer all over the whole region, but just some snacks for a meal. Didn’t matter, we were there for the beer!

And they placed grandma on the bench at the tile-stove in the guest room. She was just sitting there, sleeping. We always thought she passed away some weeks ago, and the family placed her on the bench to keep the tavern open!!! 
   

Just looked on the web, found a pic, stole it. Seems the building still exists, probably under monument protection. Don’t know, if it is still a tavern.

You will like this one here! 

Its located in Stuttgart. It’s a big town down in a basin valley, and the building is up on the hills which are around the big town.

It was built in 1889, for an older military shooting range (400 meters). Those was the era when Germany was still a “Kaiser Reich” and the military was very important. 

The building is called “Royal Garnison-Schützenhaus” and the soldier’s canteen was located in the two story building on the first floor. The second floor provided a small apartment for the range caretaker. In the low building attached behind was a shop for tools and target repair.
The building is in wooden framework, raw red brick-lined. With a lot of nice little towers and oriels.

The first postcard shows it in 1897 when it was still a military range. Typical German/Prussian soldiers with spiked helmet.

The second postcard is a picture taken round 1910, classy soldiers with aiming on targets. The canteen was rented to an inn keeper.

The third postcard was shipped in 1934, it was a restaurant with a beergarden. The military range was still on duty for soldier practice.

The fourth picture shows it nowadays, in a green park, close to the still growing cemetery.

After WWII, the US allied forces occupied the whole property. They used the range till the 1960s, but probably not the buildings. The canteen was rented again to an inn keeper, but not for a long time. The town council decided to enlarge the nearby cemetery on the property, so the shooting range was closed forever. Afterwards the family of the cemetery gardener moved into the house. They left the place in 2009, after more than 40 years. 

The owner of the building and surrounding property is the German state. But they couldn’t decide yet what will happen to the real estate. It’s a protected monument, meanwhile very close to the nearby grave yard. So it’s not possible to re-open it as a restaurant or rent it as a family home. A local citizen group tries to keep the building in shape and they are looking for a reasonable future use.