FRANKFURT-AM-MAIN AND BALDWIN-WALLACE
COLLEGE
by F. A. NORWOOD
Associate Professor of History,
Baldwin-Wallace College
Without German Pietism John Wesley would
not have had a warming of
the heart. He would have remained a
devoted, strict churchman, somewhat
bigoted, fulfilling his ecclesiastical
duties unflinchingly, but he would never
have gained access to the hearts of the multitudes, he
would not have
kindled a fire that enlightened and
warmed the hearts and lives of millions
in all parts of the globe and changed
the spiritual atmosphere of the world.
Without American activism Wilhelm Nast
would have led a useful
life as a scholar and professor, hidden
in his classroom and study, the
author of learned books, which
accumulated distinction and dust in the
libraries of theological seminaries, but
he would never have become the
founder and leader of the hosts of
German Methodists, who made valuable
and permanent contributions to the
religious life of America and of con-
tinental Europe.1
This is the most general statement of
the religious influences
that, with increasingly specific
reference, operated between Germany
and America, American Methodism and
German Methodism, Ger-
man Methodism and Baldwin-Wallace
College in Berea, Ohio,
American Methodism and the Methodist
seminary in Frankfurt-am-
Main, and finally between the seminary
on the Main and the
college on Rocky River. This study
begins with a mention of the
notable immigration of Germans to
America in the nineteenth cen-
tury, and ends with a description of
the mutual ties between an
American college and a German seminary.
In the midst lies the
fascinating story of cultural
influences and counter-influences that
spanned the Atlantic Ocean in at least
eight different phases.
Certainly ever since the sixteenth
century people of German
nationality had been bidding farewell
to their native land and
voyaging forth in search of a peaceful,
more secure life. At first
for religious2 and later for
political and economic reasons3 a vast
1 Bishop John L. Nuelsen in his
introduction to Paul F. Douglass, The Story
of German Methodism (New York, 1939), xvi.
2 See Frederick A. Norwood, The
Reformation Refugees as an Economic Force
(Chicago, 1942), Chap. I.
3 Such
as the Thirty Years' War and the devastations ensuing, the wars of Louis
XIV, and the campaigns of Napoleon.
20
Frankfurt-am-Main and
Baldwin-Wallace 21
Volkerwanderung developed that continued intermittently till the
end of the nineteenth century.
Particularly in the latter century the
tide rose to huge proportions.
Aggravated by the chronic agricul-
tural distress that persisted far into
the Bismarckian era, the political
disturbances that preceded unification
drove millions of Germans
to America.4 Many of these joined the
westward movement into
the Ohio Valley, settling, among other
places, in Cincinnati, where
by 1840 they comprised one-fourth of
the population.5
They did not bring Methodism with them.
In fact they brought
precious little religion with them at
all, being noted rather for
rough and tough manners and strong
drink. The work of raising
churches beside the saloons and
river-front dives was not, of course,
exclusively the work of the Methodists;
but they were especially
active in carrying on missionary work
in the Ohio Valley among
the German-speaking immigrants. By 1840
there were ten mission-
aries in the field, and by 1864 there
were 306 preachers and 26,145
members, organized into four
German-speaking conferences.6 Until
1924 German-American Methodism was
self-contained, although
bound in the larger body through the
General Conference. In the
twentieth century, however, immigration
had fallen off and as-
similation had done its work. One by
one the German conferences
merged with the English-speaking
conferences in the same area,
until by 1933 the movement was
complete.7
One name stands at the fountainhead of
this work among the
Germans in America-Wilhelm Nast.8 Since
his story has been
ably told in numerous publications, we
need pause only briefly
here. Born in Germany, like most of his
associates, he was one
in the stream of immigration in the
nineteenth century, arriving
in 1828 at the age of twenty-one.
Converted at a revival in 1835,
he was appointed by the Ohio Conference
meeting in Springfield
4 On these general aspects of
migrations, see Donald R. Taft, Human Migration
(New York, 1936).
5 Douglass, Story of German
Methodism, 5.
6 Ibid., 41, 76. The conferences were: Central German, North West
German,
South West German, East German.
Douglass' book is basic for the history of German-
American Methodism, but see also the Souvenir
of the Ninetieth Anniversary of Ger-
man Methodism (Cincinnati, 1928).
7 Ibid., 213-214.
8 See John Nuelsen, T. Mann, and J.
Sommer, Geschichte des Methodismus
(Bremen, 1920), 490 et seq.; Douglass,
Story of German Methodism, 9 et seq.
22 Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
as "German missionary" to
Cincinnati. After a year he was assigned
the whole of Ohio as a circuit and
traveled widely, laying founda-
tions for churches in Columbus, Galion,
Marion, Bucyrus, and other
places. Then he was back in Cincinnati,
concentrating on the Ger-
man converts. Soon he became editor of Der
Christliche Apologete,
the first issue of which appeared under
the date January 4, 1839.
This was to be the most influential
German Methodist publication
in America. The later career of Nast is
associated closely with other
topics discussed in this article. A
cursory survey of the other names
in German-American Methodism reveals
the debt to Germany. The
names are German, and all were born
there.9
In America, then, the Germans first
found Methodism.10 From
America they took it back to Germany.
The men who fled their
homeland to come to America, finding
there a pearl of great price,
sought to return with it to the old
country, that those left behind
might have it also. Many of the great
names of German-American
Methodism are also the great names of
the American mission to
Germany. In 1844 the Board of Missions
and the Ohio Conference
sent Wilhelm Nast to investigate the
prospects; but he brought
back an unfavorable report, based on
narrow opposition from local
pastors and the lack of any real
religious freedom.11 The real
mission to Germany came some five years
later, when Ludwig S.
Jacoby sailed as a missionary and
arrived at Bremen on November
7, 1849.12 The Revolution of 1848 had
come and gone, the environ-
ment was more favorable, and Jacoby
chose Bremen as one of the
four free cities where he might hope to
enjoy greater freedom.
The work prospered from the beginning,
and soon he was re-
9 E.g., Karl H. Doring, born in Hannover, 1811, came to America in
1835;
Ludwig S. Jacoby, born in Mecklenburg,
1813, came to America in 1838; Engelhart
Riemenschneider, born in Kurhessen, 1815, came to
America in 1835; Ludwig Nippert,
born in Alsace, 1825, came to America in 1830. All of
these subsequently returned
as "missionaries" to their
original fatherland. See C. Golder, J. Horst, and J.
Schaal, eds., Geschichte der Zentral
deutschen Konferenz (Cincinnati, [1906?]),
105, 108-109, and 120, and Souvenir, 27
et seq.
10 This does not include the spread of
Wesleyan Methodism from Great Britain,
deriving from C. G. Muller in 1831. See
Nuelsen, Mann, and Sommer, Geschichte
des Methodismus, 542 et seq.
11 Nuelsen, Mann, and Sommer, Geschichte
des Methodismus, 584.
12 Ibid., 585;
Douglass, Story of German Methodism, 102. The latter remarks
on the presumptuousness of sending
missionaries to one of the oldest Protestant
countries in the world.
Frankfurt-am-Main and
Baldwin-Wallace 23
inforced by the arrival of Ludwig
Nippert, Karl H. Doring, Heinrich
Nuelsen, Engelhart Riemenschneider, and
the Wunderlich brothers,
who carried on the work in Saxony.
Sunday schools were established,
and the congregation in Bremen grew.
From Bremen the Methodist movement
spread to Hamburg,
Oldenburg, Braunschweig, and Hannover.
The early Bremen charge
and circuit became the first German
mission conference, organized
in 1856.13 Almost from the beginning
another Methodist paper in
the German tongue, Der Evangelist, helped
to publicize the new
sect. By the time of the first World
War, Methodism had two con-
ferences in Germany, one in Sweden, and
a mission conference in
Austria-Hungary. In 1926 there were five
conferences in Germany
alone. A significant development in
1897 was the union of the
Methodist Episcopal Germans with the
Wesleyan Methodist Ger-
mans, thus uniting for the first time
the two important but
separate bodies owing their origin to
America and Great Britain
respectively.
The son of Engelhart Riemenschneider,
missionary preacher
extraordinary in Frankfurt-am-Main and
elsewhere in Germany and
Switzerland, was Karl Riemenschneider,
long-time president of
German Wallace College in Berea, Ohio.
The son of Heinrich
Nuelsen, one of the first
German-American missionaries to Bremen,
was John L. Nuelsen, for some nine
years professor at Nast
Theological Seminary, part of German
Wallace College. These
two relationships are symbols of the
further and deeper association
between German and American Methodists:
the influence of con-
tinental forces on the history and
growth of Baldwin-Wallace
College. The story goes briefly like
this: In 1845 John Baldwin
of Berea, Ohio, with the authorization
and help of the North Ohio
Conference, founded Baldwin Institute,
which ten years later became
Baldwin University. This was one of the
first small church-related
colleges so typical of the Midwest. In
1858, through the sponsorship
of two German Methodists, Jacob
Rothweiler and Wilhelm Nast,
a German professorship was established.
Four years later this chair
had grown so important that it was
separated from the university
13 With seven charges or circuits, 537
members, and 1,235 registered in Sunday
schools.
24
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
and organized as German Wallace
College. The German character
of this institution is indicated by the
names of some of the early
members of administration and faculty:
Wilhelm Nast, president;
Jacob Rothweiler, vice president and
professor of German and
Bible; P. W. Mosblech, professor of
ancient and modern languages;
Albert Nast, instructor in piano; Mary
Hasenpflug, instructor in
melodeon. The original membership of
the board of trustees com-
prised Nast, Ahrens, Fischer, Bruehl,
Wunderlich, Pinger, Mallow,
Kraft, Schuler, Wettstein, Mack,
Schupp, and Hasenpflug.14 Through
the years the German influence
continued with twenty-two faculty
members of German origin as late as
1938.15 At present this special
characteristic is gradually
disappearing. One of the most notable
figures was that of Karl
Riemenschneider, who in 1868 became pro-
fessor of ancient languages. He served
in this capacity until 1893,
when he succeeded Wilhelm Nast as
president. When in the
eighties a bed of fine sandstone was
discovered underlying the
campus, the college moved to a new
site. In 1899 the theological
department was reorganized as Nast
Theological Seminary. At this
time a third generation of Riemenschneiders
became active in the
work of German Methodism, in the person
of Albert, who came
to the college to teach music and later
to achieve national recog-
nition for his promotion of the Bach
Festivals, held annually in
Berea. Elected acting president of
Baldwin-Wallace College in
1948, a year after his retirement as
director of the conservatory, Dr.
Riemenschneider completed, with the
long career of his father,
a full century of service. A final
organizational change came in
1913, when friendly relations between
German Wallace College
and Baldwin University led to a merger
as Baldwin-Wallace College.
Many of the faculty members were first
generation German-
Americans. One such was Karl
Riemenschneider. Another out-
standing teacher was Friedrich Paulus,
who arrived in America in
1870 and was professor of systematic
theology from 1874 to 1893,
the year of his death.16 Among
others were Alois Lobenstein, who
14 Golder, Horst, and Schaal, Geschichte
der Zentral deutschen Konferenz, 166-
167. Wallace in the title is derived
from a benefactor who gave to the new institution
a hall bearing his name.
15 Douglass, Story of German Methodism, 161.
16 Der Christliche Apologete, December 7, 1893, p. 8. See also Douglass, Story
of German Methodism, 155.
Frankfurt-am-Main and
Baldwin-Wallace 25
came to the United States after 1848
and taught in Berea for some
eleven years after 1866; Peter Franz
Schneider, who arrived in 1833,
and became vice president and treasurer
in 1873; and Heinrich
Liebhart, who came in 1854 and served
many years as trustee and
president of the board.17
As the influence of German Methodism
and Methodism in
Germany on Baldwin-Wallace was
persistent and profound, as many
Germans came to America to fill the
ranks of teachers and admin-
istrators, the college exerted a
reciprocal influence in at least one
instance. Heinrich Nuelsen had a son
John, who was born in 1867
in Zurich. Educated in Germany and the
United States, he came in
1899 to teach in Nast Theological
Seminary for nine years and
then was elected bishop. The pendulum
of influence and counter-
influence was swaying once more, then,
when in 1912 Bishop
Nuelsen was assigned to Europe, where
he has spent many years
in fruitful service of Methodism in
Germany.18
Of the various institutions founded by
the Methodists in
Germany, one in particular has had and
retains close relations with
America. This is the theological
seminary now located in Frankfurt-
am-Main. It was established in 1858 in
Bremen by the early mis-
sionaries Jacoby, Doring, and Nippert,
together with enterprising
laymen.19 Nippert and Jacoby were early
presidents. By 1860 the
school possessed a building of its own.
One of the early professors
was W. F. Warren, a scholarly American
who taught in the seminary
from 1861 to 1866 and then returned to
this country as president
of Boston University. When John T.
Martin of New York gave
$25,000 for new buildings, the decision
was made to move to
Frankfurt, a location more nearly
central for German Methodism.
This was done in 1867, and a new
building was dedicated two
years later. The next great change, a
result of the rerouting of rail-
roads through the old property,
occurred as the clouds of the first
17 Golder, Horst, and Schaal, Geschichte
der Zentral deutschen Konferenz, 123,
126-127, 128, 131.
18 Douglass, Story of German Methodism, 186.
19 The fullest account of the history of
the seminary is found in F. H. Otto
Melle, ed., Festschrift zur Feier des
75 jahrigen Jubilaums des Predigerseminars der
Bischoflichen Methodistenkirche (Bremen, 1933), 26 et seq. See also Souvenir,
40
et seq.; Douglass,
Story of German Methodism, 154 et seq.; Nuelsen, Mann, and
Sommer, Geschichte des Methodismus, 633 et
seq.
26
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly
World War were gathering. A new campus
was acquired and new
buildings erected, just in time to
serve as an army hospital during
the war. When the conflict was over, F.
H. Otto Melle became
president, and the seminary recovered
and grew both in size and
repute. It exerted an influence over
not only German Methodism on
both continents, but the whole
religious life of Germany as well.
Melle was elected bishop in 1936.
Like most German Methodist
institutions, this seminary owed
its origin and growth to
German-American missionary enterprise.
Only a few of the names connected with
this work have been men-
tioned. In return, the seminary has had
its influence on American
Methodism in a special way, particularly
on three institutions:
Boston University, Drew Seminary, and
Baldwin-Wallace College.
It sent W. F. Warren to Boston as the
first president, and one of the
most notable. It sent John F. Hurst to
Drew as professor of church
history, then president, then bishop.
It sent Karl Riemenschneider
and Friedrich Paulus to
Baldwin-Wallace. Its influence did not
cease here; but perhaps a clearer
understanding of the closeness of
that relationship may be seen in the
further connection between the
seminary on the Main and the college on
Rocky River.
We have seen how German Methodism was
closely connected
with the growth of the college and how
the college was instru-
mental in providing a bishop for
Germany. The intimacy of this
relationship, however, is most
completely shown by the kinship of
the seminary and Baldwin-Wallace
College. The first phase was
from Frankfurt to Berea. Karl
Riemenschneider served as professor
at the seminary from 1865 to 1866.20
Migrating to the United States,
he served German Wallace College as
professor of ancient languages
and other subjects from 1868 and as
president from 1893. His son in
1948 became acting president of
Baldwin-Wallace College.
Arriving a little later was Friedrich
Paulus, a scholarly teacher
of theology in the German seminary from
1863 to 1870.21 He had
transferred with the seminary from
Bremen to Frankfurt. But he
also was called to America and to
German Wallace College (1874)
as professor of systematic theology. He
was one of the most
20 Melle, Festschrift, 69.
21 Ibid., 69.
Frankfurt-am-Main and
Baldwin-Wallace 27
notable and erudite teachers toward the
end of the nineteenth
century. He lived and worked until
1893. A more recent indication
of the mutual interest of the two
institutions was given to the
author in a conversation with Dr.
Paulus Scharpff in the spring
of 1948. Dr. Scharpff, a member of the
faculty of the seminary
in Frankfurt, delegate to the General
Conference, was visiting
Berea to renew friendships and observe
the present state of German
Methodism in America. He said that at
one time he also had seriously
contemplated coming to Berea to teach.
And finally, this most particular
influence from Germany to
America-from Frankfurt to Berea--has
had its counter-influence
in the person of August J. Bucher. He
was born in Zurich in 1862,
came to the United States in 1879, and
studied at German Wallace
and Nast Theological Seminary. After
several American pastorates,
he returned to the continent to teach
for seventeen years at the
Frankfurt seminary.22 A
broad scholar, he brought to the seminary
a strong influence in language and
literature. And so the pendulum
has swung, back and forth, between
America and Germany, Ameri-
can Methodism and German Methodism,
German Methodism and
Baldwin-Wallace College, American
Methodism and the seminary
in Frankfurt, and finally between the
seminary on the Main and
the college on Rocky River.
Baldwin-Wallace is no longer German.
But, since it is a part of the
structure of history, the cultural and
spiritual bridge built over the decades
from the days of Wilhelm
Nastwill last a long time.
22 Douglass,
Story of German Methodism, 147. He ended his career in America
once more as principal of Dorcas Institute in
Cincinnati.