Bellville Concordia

The singers belonged to a town that ran much of its life in German. By the mid-1880s Bellville had about 1,000 people, mostly German, and its schools taught in both English and German. The Turnverein opened an opera house in 1889 and a decade later built a large music pavilion on the edge of town. Germans also kept the Harloff Beer Hall, the Germania Hotel and German Methodist and Lutheran churches, and from 1891 they could read a German-language weekly, the Bellville Wochenblatt. For several years before 1900 a Black schoolteacher published another of the town's newspapers.

What the plaque says

Bellville Concordia (Name adopted in 1938) Singing society organized in home of Fritz Schlecht, at Piney (3.5 mi. E), 1860. Members: Fritz Brandes, Heinrich and Gustav Koch, Joseph and Theo Menke, Herman Mueller, Fritz Schultz. Emil Koch, director. Hall (built 1877), wrecked by 1900 storm, was moved here, rebuilt same year. Land given by Henry Strauss. (1968)

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Early History of Bellville Methodist Church — 0.8 mi
• Joachim H. Hintz — 0.8 mi
• Bellville — 0.8 mi
• First National Bank of Bellville — 0.9 mi