Frederick Beinhorn and Wilhelm Pfaender, pioneer founders of the prairie colony of New Ulm, were cut of the same cloth. Both came to America from Germany after the 1848 Revolution in Central Europe failed to unite German peoples under a new frame of government. Both sought New World frontiers to realize unfulfilled dreams of freedom and a more ideal social life.
Beinhorn (1821-1900), a visionary from the North German province of Braunschweig, founded the Chicago Land Association and in 1854 helped to organize the New Ulm colony along the Minnesota River in the recently opened Minnesota Territory. A few years later Pfaender (1826-1905), a born leader from the South German province of Wuerttemberg, led a contingent of Cincinnati Turners to consolidate with Beinhorn's experiment in living on the prairie. Under their leadership the newly amalgamated German Land Association prospered.
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(Continued from other side)Pfaender, the "grand old man" of New Ulm and the city's first president, distinguished himself as a member of the state electoral college that chose President Lincoln, served militarily as a lieutenant colonel in the Civil War cavalry, politically as Minnesota State Senator and State Treasurer, and locally as justice of the peace and register of deeds. He farmed and also sold real estate and insurance. Beinhorn organized the Chicago Mill Association, a stock company, that set in motion milling as a premier industry in the city's early days. He also ran a general store as an outlet for a flourmill and kept active to foster the city's social and commerical advancement. Both lie buried in the City Cemetery of the town they nourished at birth.
Erected by
the Junior Pioneers of New Ulm Vicinity and
the City of New Ulm on the 150th Anniversary of New Ulm
August 2004
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