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Old 02-19-2013, 11:50 PM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Shinners View Post
That could be, but stlouisan is right in that Cincinnati, St. Louis and Milwaukee are usually singled out by historians as the being the most German of the American cities.
Do you have any kind of source?

A huge swath of the USA from Pennsylvania west into the plains, from the great lakes south to the Ohio River was heavily settled by German immigrants. I don't think there's any historian out there that will single out Cincinnati (and definitely not St. Louis) as heavier German settlements than Chicago, St. Paul, or Pittsburgh...
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Old 02-19-2013, 11:54 PM
 
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Check this out ^^^

Milwaukee, yes....I could see the argument that it is the most "German" big city in the country. St. Louis and Cincinnati, though, are just status quo for every city from Buffalo to Omaha. Are there lots of Germans? yeah. Are there lots of Germans in every other major city in that region? Heck yeah.
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Old 02-20-2013, 02:32 AM
 
Location: Shaw.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by srsmn View Post
Do you have any kind of source?

A huge swath of the USA from Pennsylvania west into the plains, from the great lakes south to the Ohio River was heavily settled by German immigrants. I don't think there's any historian out there that will single out Cincinnati (and definitely not St. Louis) as heavier German settlements than Chicago, St. Paul, or Pittsburgh...
Cincinnati was a major German-American city (the first mayor was German). Over-the-Rhine is the largest intact urban historic district in the U.S. It was settled by Germans. However, from the late 19th century approximately 40 million people went from the Appalachians to cities, including Cincinnati. It's possible that that watered down the German-ness.
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Old 02-20-2013, 07:36 AM
 
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Quote:
Originally Posted by cali3448893 View Post
Cincinnati has a huge German population...also Ohio has the highest population of Germans than any other state in the country.
California has the highest population of German Americans with 5 millions.
North Dakota has the highest percentage of German Americans with 47.2 % of the population.
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Old 02-20-2013, 07:39 AM
 
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Central Texas was settled by Germans, so you will find many German influenced areas around there. Chicken Fried Steak came from that area from people trying to make weinerschnitzel with local ingredients (the breaded veal, not the hot dog place). There are a couple of small towns around there, Fredericksburg and New Braunfels, that really capitalize on their German heritage. Admiral Nimitz was born and raised in Fredericksburg, and there is a really fine WWII museum there. New Braunfels and Gruene are right on the Guadalupe River, so very touristy towns where people go tubing down the rivers all summer. Schlitterbahn Waterpark in New Braunfels is always voted best waterpark in the country.
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Old 02-20-2013, 08:45 AM
 
Location: "Daytonnati"
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^
WOW..i had no idea about the origins of Chicken Fried Steak! Fascinating.

San Antonio did have a suprising German aspect to it. Interesting place for a cultural mash-up...Mexicans + Germans. I've heard of New Braunfels, but Ive actually visited the original one in Germany.
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Old 02-20-2013, 08:51 AM
 
Location: "Daytonnati"
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Historically, betw. the "famous three" German-American cities; St Louis, Cincy, and Milwaukee had the highest % of Germans in the 19th and early 20th century, based on some stats I've seen.

Though Germans were found throughout the US, even in LA & New Orleans (cf Lac Des Allemands, & the Cote des Allemands.... and there was a German neighborhood in NO, vicinity of Bywater and Faubourg Mariginy, east of the French Quarter, and in Treme)
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Old 02-20-2013, 09:11 AM
 
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The usual suspects: Milwaukee, Cincinnati and St. Louis, with Minneapolis-St. Paul, Omaha, Pittsburgh and Chicago also strongly represented..

As far as states go, most Midwestern states have pretty high percentages, esp Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, along with the Dakotas. Iowa, Illinois and Indiana are also strong. Of all of them, Wisconsin seems to stand out to me, with its "beer and brats" culture virtually everywhere..

Last edited by MassVt; 02-20-2013 at 09:58 AM..
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Old 02-20-2013, 09:28 AM
 
Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
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Quote:
Originally Posted by srsmn View Post
Huh? Minneapolis and St. Paul have a higher percentage of people claiming German heritage than any of those three.

To the OP, if you want to see a city where German heritage is really reflected in the architecture, do a google image search on New Ulm, MN. That is probably the "most German" city-- large or small-- in America.

As for big cities, you can find examples of German-influenced architecture in pretty much any of them where there was a large enough concentration of Germans. And that was a *lot* of American cities. This theory that Cincinnati is particularly German when compared to other places because it has a few tudor houses is kind of bogus to me.

Not saying that Cincinnati is not heavily German. It certainly is. But it's not one of only three in the country. Besides Minneapolis and St. Paul, Pittsburgh is heavily German. So is Chicago. So are a number of cities on the Great Plains, such as Omaha...
Minnesota has a lot of eastern europeans too though. so i revise my statement. Milwaukee, st. louis, and cincinnati may not be the most heavily influenced german cities, but boy they are up there. As far as states themselves go, the midwest and northeast states have a heavy german ancestry. For example, in missouri, 23.5% of the population is of german descent. That easily puts us in the top 20.
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Old 02-20-2013, 09:32 AM
 
Location: Jefferson City 4 days a week, St. Louis 3 days a week
2,709 posts, read 5,062,227 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MassVt View Post
The usual suspects: Milwaukee, Cincinnati and St. Louis, with Minneapolis-St. Paul, Omaha, Pittsburgh and chicago also strongly represented..

As far as states go, most Midwestern states have pretty high percentages, esp Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Nebraska, along with the Dakotas. Iowa, Illinois and Indiana are also strong. Of all of them, Wisconsin seems to stand out to me, with its "beer and brats" culture virtually everywhere..
Missouri is another midwestern state with a high german american population. 23.5% of state is descended fron germans, myself included.
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