German Heritage Mural - Joliet, IL
Posted by: 
cldisme
N 41° 32.169 W 088° 04.859
16T E 409827 N 4598841
A mural depicting the life of early German-American Settlers in Joliet, IL
Waymark Code: WM5TGV
Location: Illinois, United States
Date Posted: 02/11/2009
Views: 29
No parking is permitted on Illinois Route 53. Please use the nearby Forest Preserve District parking lot to the east when visiting this waymark.
This two-part mural provides a glimpse into the life of German-American Settlers during the late 19th Century and the early 20th Century.
The interpretive sign reads:
The first German settlers in Joliet were George Erhard and John Belz. They arrived in 1836 and established a brewery two years later, the first in the city. By 1860, Joliet claimed many German-born residents, among them stone masons, carpenters, butchers, blacksmiths, grocers, brewers, farmers, laborers, doctors, as well as dealers in livestock, lumber, clothing, and shoes. By the late 19th century, German families seemed integrated into the community; yet, a German neighborhood could be identified extending roughly from Jefferson on the south to Theodore on the north, and from Bluff on the east to Raynor on the west. It included St. John’s German Catholic Church, St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Germania hall, Westphal Savings Bank, grocery stores, butcher shops, and taverns. Residences were both modest and grand, including the castle-like home of the Sehring family.
The mural on the
south side of Columbia Street, reflects the influence of German immigrants on the Joliet area. Its design recalls successive images from a photograph album: village life in Germany, arriving by boat in the U.S., St. John’s German Catholic Church, and German nuns opening Joliet’s first hospital – St. Joseph-in 1882. It is all connected by a flowing banner of the German national colors becoming the red, white and blue of the American flag.
The mural on the
north side of Columbia Street continues the story of the German influence in Joliet. This painting – rendered in a lighter, looser tone and style – presents a lively, teeming portrait of German-American life and labor in the years before World War I. The mural includes St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, Germans working at the Sweet Orr overall factory in the early 20th century, a German-Jewish tailor, references to farmers growing hops, and breweries making beer.