Davenport's German-American Heritage Center

Renovation gives Standard Hotel new life as German Heritage Center

Once home to drug addicts and prostitutes, the Standard Hotel has been given a new life. On May 27, the German American Heritage Center will open its doors to the public with a traditional MAIFEST celebration according to board member Harlan Meier. The $1.8 million dream is becoming a reality after years of planning. About six years ago Scharlott Goettsch Blevins persuaded a handful of people to join her in creating a center to preserve the heritage of the German immigrants who helped establish this part of the country. ``If this generation doesn't preserve our heritage, it will be gone forever,'' he said. ``Many people think of St. Louis as the gateway to the west. The Quad-Cities was also a gateway. Those who settled in Nebraska, Dakotas and Iowa would come here before starting their journey.'' The former hotel was the perfect location for such a center because it stands in what was once the hub of German life in Davenport and most likely was a place of refuge for many immigrants. Standing at a fourth floor window of the former hotel, German American Mr. Meier ponders about how many people, German immigrants specifically, stopped at the same window to admire the view of the Mississippi River throughout the building's 132-year history. It would be impossible to guess how many over-nighted in the hotel at the foot of the Centennial Bridge on the corner of 2nd and Gaines streets, he said. It is likely the hotel was the first stop for newcomers after landing near where John O'Donnell stadium now stands. Mr. Meier guesses that many immigrants were German since the area was heavily settled by Germans. They would be attracted to the hotel because it was built and owned by Germans. The original three-story west wing was built in 1868 by an unknown person who called the hotel Germania Haus. In 1875, the building was bought by John Frederick Miller who expanded to the east as well as adding a story.Mr. Miller kept the name Germania Haus and added a likeness of a Roman goddess who was said to protect the ground called Germania. As the former hotel's history is being stripped to make way for the new, the past becomes evident in the charred ceiling rafters and the tongue-and-groove floor that still mark the size of the old hotel rooms. ``They were small, but probably comfortable for then,'' Mr. Meier said. Throughout the next 100 years the building continued to provide shelter; however, the clientele changed dramatically as did the neighborhood. Rooms were rented by the hour and became a haven to undesirables and parts of society that had hit rock bottom instead of those who were seeking a better life, Mr. Meier said. Today the building is in the pathway of renovation, Mr. Meier said. [The restoration includes bringing the exterior of the building to its original\par likeness during the turn of the century - circa 1898.] Businesses and organizations have been supportive in the group's efforts to rejuvenate the building and create a place for the community and tourists to visit and learn. For those wanting to learn more about the association a web site has been created at www.germanamerheritage.org or by calling 322-8844. ``One of our goals is to have a place to preserve grandma's things,'' Mr. Meier said. ``To preserve her history and our families' histories. Someday we'll have German language classes, family trees...perhaps a floor devoted to women of German heritage. The women were very significant in the profitability and success of the German family.''


Center keeps heritage alive

A Bush for president sticker on the bill of his cap, a corn grower's emblem on his jacket, praises for the German American Heritage Center being completed in Davenport -- are symbolic of Harlan Meier's life. Mr. Meier has spent his life promoting, either a product or an organization, in addition to running a large farming operation. ``The more I had going for me the happier I was,'' Mr. Meier said. The only regret is that I didn't spend more time with my children. Looking back, well I've had quite a life.'' It started on a farm settled by his grandfather in 1900. He grew up during The Great Depression never learning they were poor, but learning the value of hard work. As a boy on the farm he would ride the grain binder cutting oats that would be bundled then put into shocks. Later he and his father would bring the shocks in on a horse drawn hayrack for threshing. His father's job would be to pitch the bundles into the thresher, while Mr. Meier carefully put the straw into stacks that would shed water. His reward for helping his father was to visit his aunt in Davenport where he could use the shower with hot running water, ride bicycles on pavement and wash a nickle bag of potato chips down with a nickle bottle of pop. It may not sound like a great reward but it beat washing in a galvanized tub on the back porch and using a building with two holes and a Sears and Roebuck catalog. In his spare time he'd peddle his bike around neighboring farms and sell garden seeds. Doing so would earn him a watch or another ``gift'' from the seed company. After serving in Korea, Mr. Meier attended Iowa State University, but his mind was on farming. He farmed in partnership with his father, then with his son. He retired from farming in 1993, but works part time as a grain trailer salesman. His goal when he started farming in the 1950's was to farm 1,000 acres and be worth $100,000. Those were lofty goals for a young man back then, he said laughing at the memory. By 1972 he was farming 2,000 acres in three counties, including the farm homesteaded by his grandfather in 1900. ``I was young, ambitious and foolish,'' Mr. Meier said. ``I did everything could to make an honest dollar. If you really want to farm today, you have to have a job in town and salt away money earned on the farm.'' During his farming career, he had a successful chemical supply and grain bin business. The chemical supply business started when he bought a old Studebaker truck and installed a model A drive line in it to slow it down. That enabled him to spread pounds instead of tons. He got a contract with a fertilizer company and cleaned out the chicken house -- he was in business. While selling bins and supplying fertlizer along with farming 2,000 acres would have been enough for most men, Mr. Meier was active in the corn promotion board, served 15 years with the Iowa Corn Growers and National Corn Growers, was on the U. S. Meat Export Federation Board and the U. S. Feed Grain Council. ``If you have a passion for agriculture, you have to make it better for the coming generation,'' he said. ``I believe strongly in these groups, someone has to speak for them. Without those lobby groups, agriculture would be much poorer.''Visiting Korea on a food-safety mission 44 years after the war ended, Mr. Meier said he saw first hand what freedom and help can do. The two-lane dusty streets traveled only by a few men and maybe horse that had survived pulling a cart he remembered had turned into a 12-lane highway with Mercedes and Hyundais speeding by highrises. Mr. Meier's passion is not just for agriculture, but for the past as well. Mr. Meier isn't a founding member of the organization, but he's a vocal member. He's taken on the task of helping build the organization's membership and helping raise money to see the work is completed on the once proud establishment known as the Germania Haus owned by J. F. Miller and later the Standard Hotel. ``I like to make people aware of what is being done,'' Mr. Meier said. ``The heritage center is important to people on both sides of the river. Heritage is important. The best way to learn about someone is to ask about their heritage. Start asking questions, people enjoy sharing information. Preserving history, it's not something you realize the importance of when you're young.'' [Mr. Meier has demonstrated that typical hard work ethic that was brought from the old country by so many of our German immigrant ancestors as a Board Director of the German American Heritage Center. Through his support and enthusiasm, the Center is becoming a reality. It is hoped that many other Americans throughout the mid-west with German ancestors will join in with such enthusiasm and support of the German American Heritage Center's opening. Information on the MAIFEST will be forthcoming.


January 9, 2000
By Pam Berenger, Dispatch/Argus Staff writer
Copyright 2000, Moline Dispatch Publishing Co.

Visit Davenport's German-American Heritage Center at: http://www.gahc.org/