The Hamburger Club

Not too long ago in Chicago the Hamburger Club met in Schoenhofen’s Hall at the corner of Milwaukee and Ashland avenues. This was a club for immigrants from the city of Hamburg and not a place for hamburger connoisseurs as some non-German speaking Americans might have thought. In many neighborhoods German was still commonly spoken as this aluminum table top calendar of events shows. For the 1908-1909 season they had their founders fest Oct. 24, 1908, dancing Nov.4, Christmas fest Dec. 28, a masked ball Feb 6, 1909, more dancing on March 10, and again on April 7, May fest on May 8, and their picnic at Harms Park on June 27, 1909. Looks like they took the hot summer months of July, August and September off which is understandable in the days before air conditioning. The castle at the upper left is the Hamburg city coat of arms without being on the shield.