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Concordia Hall The Concordia
Saengerchor was organized on January 29, 1862, and is one of
the oldest organizations in Breese. The Society vas founded
principally for the purpose of planning improvements for the
City of Breese. The purpose also included good singing and a
great deal of dancing.
The building
was a large, one-story structure with the entrance on North
Main Street A large stage was at the rear of the building.
The dance floor was in the middle of the full length of the
building and was surrounded on both sides, with benches,
with a raised floor and railings. Coat racks were along the
walls and two large, pot bellied stoves were on each side to
the rear of the building. The stage had a number of painted
canvases as backdrops for their plays. Out houses were
constructed along the alley behind and east of the building.
A charter was
issued to the Concordia Saengerchor on March 16, 1881, which
made it a legally organized corporation. The society holds
its annual meeting on the last Sunday of the calendar year
for the purpose of planning their annual banquet, which is
always held on the Saturday nearest the 29th of January and
to approve of new members with the organization. Membership
rules were quite strict at that time. An approval system
required placing a white or black marble into a wooden box
about six inches square with a handle. Each officer was
given white and black marbles and as a prospective member
was voted on, the voting box was passed around and a marble
was dropped secretly through a small hole in the top of the
box. When votes were counted, if a black marble appeared in
the box the membership was not approved, hence the term
'black balled.' This system of approving new members was
discontinued some time later.
The property
was sold to the American Legion Post 252 with an agreement
that the Society could conduct its meetings and hold it’s
annual banquet free of charge for as long as the
organization existed. A new brick building was erected on
the same site by the American Legion Post 252 and meetings
and banquets are still being held to this day.
A.J. Appel
served as Secretary for many years and later Norval Kreke
served for many years.
Those who
served as president in later years were Ralph Kruse, Marvin
Schulte, Fritz Wesselmann, Jim Reilman, Bill Loddeke nd Jim
Taylor; also, other officers were Bob Astroth, Art
Kniepman,Don Tonnies and Bill Kuhl.
The Concordia
Hall was razed in late June, 1948, and a new American Legion
Hall was built on the same site.
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