Herman Schroeder 1821 – 1905

            Herman Schroeder was born on May 22, 1821, in the town of Althandensleben, near Magdeburg, Prussia. His father was a poor music master in Napoleon’s army during the Napoleonic Wars, one of the men who gave the signal to retreat from Moscow. Herman’s father also became a prisoner of war on his way to Russian Siberia, but escaped to Althandensleben, where he worked as a builder and architect. Herman was the only son of his father and mother – Elizabeth Stolze Schroeder. He was born during a time of great famine in Europe. A combination of multiple harvest failures, rapid erosion of purchasing power among the poor, rising food prices, and the winding down of the Napoleonic Wars, which ended in 1815, contributed to an economic depression that led to a famine that was so bad that four years before Herman was born, the gross mortality rate in parts of southern Germany had risen by 20%.

Although they lacked the funds, Herman’s parents sent him to the best schools. It paid off because he turned out to be an excellent scholar, to the extent which local aristocratic people and even the Bishop Von Lebedour helped support his education. Herman’s parents were devout Catholics and thought Herman was destined to become a priest. However, after his mother’s death, Herman turned to philosophy and natural medicine under the guidance of Herr Nathusius. After the passing of his benefactor, Herman went on to study architecture and discovered that he had a great skill for it. He prospered financially and became the building contractor for the government and for the railroads between the cities of Magdeburg and Leipzig in Saxonia, claiming to have built the first railroad in Prussia.

In 1846, Herman married Baroness Maria von Buchau, the youngest daughter of Baronet Prince von Buchau, who traced his ancestry back to Johannes, Prince von Buchau, the first Swedish governor in America in 1642 and the builder of the first Protestant church in the United States. Maria had grown tired of her aristocratic life and fell in love with Herman and his ideals. Two years later, Herman became involved in revolutionary activities and joined the League of Revolutionaries to “abolish and destroy despotic governments.” Because of his views against the aristocratic establishment, he was arrested in 1848 and scheduled to be shot, but escaped the night before with his wife Maria, hiding in a rotten, wooden ship headed for New York City. He was disguised as an officer and had nothing with him but ten dollars and a needle nose gun that he took from the soldier he tragically had to kill because he was pursuing Herman during his escape. That needle gun became the first one of its kind in the United States.

It was hard to find work in New York City, so Herman and Maria headed to Cleveland, Ohio, where Herman studied medicine with the help of, according to Herman, “a former wealthy refugee.” He became a respected physician in just two years and spent some two years practicing in the cities of Mansfield and Mount Gilead, Ohio.

In 1851, Herman, Maria, and their first daughter America, emigrated to Bloomington, IL on a 6-week wagon journey. When they arrived in Bloomington, Herman fashioned a home from an old log cabin (reportedly the first log cabin built in town) near where the Illinois Central Railroad would come to be constructed. This shanty also served as a place where he began practicing medicine again, but the people in town could not afford to pay his services. As a result, he decided to try something different and began participating in real estate, which was then known as land speculating. Herman purchased nine lots in town and built thirteen houses from lumber he made from the timber on a 40-acre tract of land he had also bought from William Orendorff.  He also purchased 300 acres of land from the Illinois Central Railroad in 1853, therefore owning 240 acres of the south side of El Paso and 80 acres of what is now the town of Gilman. He called this area “Schroederville.”

In 1856, Herman sold Schroederville for a sizeable profit in order to establish the first vineyards in the west. He sold over 20,000,000 vines throughout the United States and even abroad to France and Germany, making Bloomington nationally known for grape production. Herman’s vineyards were so successful that when he sold grapes and vines at the 1860 State Fair in Decatur, he said that his pockets “could not hold all the money, so I tucked my trousers in my boot tops, took my knife and cut slits in my pockets and thus filled trousers, legs and all, the money being in silver, copper, and currency.”

Herman soon became a key upbuilder of the community as well as a prominent business leader. In 1866, Herman erected the first opera house in Bloomington: the Schroeder Opera House, located downtown on the Courthouse Square. The construction of the building cost over $70,000, which would equal more than about $943,000 today. This opera house had two stores in the first floor and a theater in the above three floors.

Herman continued to develop downtown Bloomington when he built Minerva Block in 1869, located on the west side of Main Street, between Monroe and Market Streets. The block was named after his youngest daughter, Minerva. The Schroeders lived on the second and third floors, and the rest was filled with a library of books dating back to 1410, valuable oil paintings, fine Italian marble statues, and valuable mosaics. Herman even had a life-size statue of the goddess Minerva erected and put in front of the block. He also purchased the first grand piano brought to Bloomington.

When coal was found in parts of Illinois in the 1870’s, Herman secured a scientific expert to examine the land around Bloomington. Sure enough, coal was discovered and the Bloomington Coal Mining Company was born. Herman was president of the organization two times and also owned one-fifth of the stock in the company. He sold out the business in order to devote time to his nursery. Herman planted 200,000 mulberry trees for silkworms, but the climate was not right for the silkworms so he discontinued that business. However, his vineyards continued to flourish and in 1879, his nursery was one of several still engaged in business. Herman also established a vinegar and cider factory which developed into a large and profitable business, but he eventually disposed of that business as well.

 After traveling to Europe with his family in 1875, Herman decided to try manufacturing summer sausage. In 1878, he built a steam sausage and meat pressing factory on South Main Street. Unfortunately, his first large shipment to Europe was contaminated, which upset the importers of Germany to the point where the German ambassador paid a personal visit to Dr. Schroeder. Even though Herman wrote several articles defending American pork, all pork shipments from America were prohibited in Germany, leading to Herman’s retirement from the business.

Herman continued to act as an asset to Bloomington through his charitable giving. In 1856, while his vineyard business was still struggling, he guaranteed $1,000 of the sum needed to establish Illinois State Normal University, which would equal about $25,224 today. In 1898, he was said to have given the Deaconess hospital a block of land in Bloomington in order to found the Dr. Herman Old Folks’ Home. He also donated $5,000 to the hospital campaign of 1900, which today would equal about $127,360.

Besides being known as a forerunner of Bloomington city development, Herman was well-known for his outspoken freethinking philosophical and political views. Upon Herman’s arrival to Bloomington, freethinking had just become popular in the predominantly Republican town. Herman believed that the tenets of socialism were true faith, saying, “I always was a Free Thinker, or Self Thinker, could not believe in the doctrine of the Bible humbug that the Creator of the Universe made the first man out of clay, or the stupid story of the snake and the apple tree.”  Politically, he considered himself a Democrat and voted with the Party, but he tended to go back and forth in supporting each party. In a letter found in the cornerstone of the Old Folks’ Home at Deaconess Hospital, he had written, “I could never believe in absolute governments by kings and emperors, but only by the people and for the people.”

Herman wrote many letters and editorials to newspapers about his views on economic chaos, politics, and business. This caused a stir among the townspeople, particularly the Germans who had wanted to remain a low profile. In the 1856 issue of National Flag, the Germans of Bloomington wrote a statement against Herman Schroeder, stating, “We the undersigned German citizens of the city of Bloomington, declare hereby that we consider the person known as Dr. Schroeder, as a disgrace to our reputation as our countryman…This said Schroeder is a man of no principle or consequence. He will be a Republican today and a Democrat tomorrow; seemingly your best friend today and your worst enemy tomorrow; this depends all on money matters. We will never follow the counsel of a being of such low character.”

The rest of the Bloomington population, however, considered Herman as a “friend of the people” who always had the best for the community in mind. In fact, at the end of his daughter America’s wedding in 1873, he was given an unanticipated tribute. Prominent Bloomington lawyers Ezra Prince and Lawrence Weldon, presented Herman with a gold-headed cane in the name of the citizens for his “numerous acts of benefaction to the public, more especially in the erection of the Opera House and the Minerva Block.”

            On top of all his successes, Herman had nine children: America, Heinzer, Franklin, Mazzini, Garibaldi, Prince Eugene, Gambetta, Manny, and Minerva. The names of his children illustrated his political views, for three of his children were named after revolutionary heroes: Mazzini, an Italian who believed in complete freedom and emancipation of mankind; Gambetta, a French patriot who called for separation of church and state, freedom of press and assembly, free compulsory education and the removal of restrictions on labor unions; and Garibaldi, an Italian who was anti-clerical and believed in mild socialism. Sadly, only America, Franklin, and Minerva survived to adulthood.

The Schroeders never had any servants either because of their beliefs, and Maria even owned her own money and property. In fact, in 1887, Maria sued Herman for separate maintenance. It was said that after forty years of marriage to Herman, Maria was seeking peace and quiet for her final days. In an article in the Daily Pantagraph, Maria had said “that a continual course of unkind and harsh treatment has been practiced toward her by her husband and that life with him is unendurable.” In 1890, it was reported that Maria lived in the apartment on Minerva while Herman lived in a country home built in the middle of his vineyards, which he named “Villa Maria.”

Tragedy struck in 1900 when the Great Fire occurred in Downtown Bloomington, which consumed Minerva Block and reduced 45 buildings in 4 ½ blocks to little more than rubble. Fortunately, Herman and Maria were together that night and “Herman escaped carrying his sick wife, still in her nightgown, over his shoulder, down the stairs and into the alley. He, in his [late 70’s], was dressed in torn slippers, and old jacket, straw hat and cane.” After the fire, Maria remained ill and decided to live at St. Joseph Hospital for the remainder of her life. Herman visited everyday, bringing her fruit and flowers. If he did not come, Maria would send for a carriage to go see if her husband was ill. Maria spent six months at the hospital before finally passing away in November 1901.

Herman continued to live alone in his home at 410 North Main Street. He died on April 7, 1905 due to a heart attack. He had been diagnosed with an acute attack of heart disease the previous week. Minutes before his death, he felt pains and immediately phoned Dr. Elder for medical help, but he died before Dr. Elder even arrived.

Herman’s funeral was held at the Unitarian Church. Even though he was not a member and his feelings against religion were well-known, he had shown preference for the organization for many years, donating flowers at Easter time and trees for the children at Christmas. Reverend J.H. Mueller gave the funeral address, which Dr. Schroeder had once written one out for him, but had lost in the Great Fire. The reverend gave a sermon that revealed the truth as he knew it, as well as the Christian virtue of charity in a way he felt Herman might have appreciated, quoting Goethe and Faust.

Herman was buried in Evergreen Memorial Cemetery next to his wife Maria. His obituary in the Daily Pantagraph stated, “With the death of Dr. Schroeder, there passes away one of the strong pioneer characters and unique figures in the history of Bloomington.”