Brazeau Township: The landing place for German Lutheran immigrants to Perry County
Perry County, Missouri: A rural place of about 18,000 people, so what’s the big deal?
Well, there’s plenty of history hidden in this county about 80 miles south of St. Louis — specifically in a place called Brazeau Township, the area the first wave of German Lutherans settled when they arrived in Perry County in 1839.
Here are the top three places you need to know in Brazeau Township to dissect the county’s rich German-American history.
Wittenberg
Arguably the birthplace of German-American history in Perry County, Wittenberg is the landing on the Mississippi River where the Saxon Lutheran immigrants arrived in the county. It was first known as Stephan’s Landing, named after Martin Stephan, and was meant to be the hub of the newfound colony, when the immigrants settled in the county in 1839.
Martin Stephan was a pastor and is largely credited with inspiring the Saxon Lutheran migration to Perry County and was a praised figure at first. This didn’t last, however, after Stephan was accused of mismanaging the colony, dictatorship, and adultery, among other controversies. He quickly made enemies and was expelled from the colony, so it’s no wonder why the old name for Wittenberg didn’t stick.
It’s important to realize, though, why Stephan felt so empowered to name a colony after himself. After all, this attitude that we might consider pompous today was much more common then — or, at least, admired. This was the era where Germans were traveling to America thinking they could carve out a place in the Midwest to find success.
Taking place in the eve of the ‘48ers movement, the Lutheran Migration to Perry County—led by Stephan—was surely influenced by Gottfried Duden, who had published his inspirational “Report on a Journey” just 10 years prior and had led many Germans to make the move to the United States.
And after Stephan came people like Henry Boernstein, another influential German immigrant, who moved to the U.S. in 1849 during the ‘48ers movement. Boernstein reflected on his experiences in his book “Memoirs of a Nobody” and notably suggested that success was imminent for immigrants. It’s reasonable to think Stephan shared this mindset; though, he seemingly found out the harsher realities of life.
Grand Tower
Located in the Mississippi River near the landing at Wittenberg, Grand Tower — also known as Tower Rock—is a Perry County landmark.
The rock island drew the attention of many travelers through the area — including Lewis and Clark, as well as Prince Maximillian of Weid, who was a German explorer and noted the island’s prominence in 1833, just a few years before the arrival of the Lutheran immigrants.
Given its prominent place on the Mississippi River, Tower Rock is a landmark many German immigrants to beyond Perry County can share experiences of. Many German immigrants to Missouri landed in New Orleans and traveled up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, meaning they would pass this landmark.
Altenburg
Perhaps one of the most interesting places in Brazeau Township, Altenburg is the largest of the communities the German Lutheran immigrants settled in 1839. It’s home to the building where the Evangelical Lutheran church grew out of, ultimately leading to the development of the Missouri Synod.
This building, known by many names including the Concordia Log Cabin College, started as a school that aimed to prepare students for learned professions while also providing pastoral education.
And while the school moved to St. Louis within 10 years of opening in Altenburg, it still provided the foundation for the inaugural members of the Missouri Synod, which has since become the largest member of the nationwide Evangelical Lutheran Synodical Conference.
