Founding member of the Old Munichburg Association Julianna Schroeder shares the story of Jefferson City’s historic German neighborhood and reflects on 25 years of preservation, community, and Oktoberfest.
Rewind to the 1840s. Jefferson City was just 20 years old, with most of its early residents arriving from Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee. The town had grown from the riverfront up to High Street, but Wear's Creek and its deep ravine (now the Highway 50/63 Expressway) created a natural barrier to the south.
Around that same time, German immigrants began settling the land beyond the creek, and they formed an enclave where they could speak their native language while gradually adapting to life in America.
By the 1860s, German businesses and gathering places had become fixtures of the neighborhood. Churches took root, including one that would become Central Church. Saloons opened, one of which eventually became today's ECCO Lounge. Hotels welcomed German-speaking farmers who traveled into town.
The neighborhood grew into a thriving community with dry goods stores, grocery stores, a machine shop, a brewery, Busch's Florist, furniture stores, a bank, a drugstore, a dairy, and more. Long before suburban shopping centers, the area functioned as a walkable, self-sufficient neighborhood well into the 1980s and '90s, when most people simply called it "the Southside."
Most of the earliest German settlers were from a small German town, Muenchberg (Münchberg; pronounced like “minch-bairg”). As immigrants often do, they nicknamed their village after their hometown. Some old-timers still called it that into the 2000s.
Meanwhile, the English speakers Uptown (as Jefferson City’s “downtown” was called at the time) misinterpreted the name. They’d heard of the big German city of Munich and assumed their German neighbors were saying “Munichburg.”
When we formed the Old Munichburg Association (OMA) in 2000, that’s the spelling we chose, and that’s how we came to be the world’s only “Munichburg.”
Our neighborhood organization represents historic Munichburg as well as the Greater Southside. Historic Munichburg encompasses roughly 14 blocks of Jefferson City's original Germantown, centered around Dunklin, Jefferson, and Madison streets, where brick buildings with stone foundations and graceful curved lintels still tell the story of the neighborhood's past.
The Greater Southside extends east to Jackson, south to Stadium, and west to Myrtle, plus Swifts Highway and the Panorama subdivision (Linden, Laurel, and Holly).
We at the OMA are neighbors, preservationists, business owners, homeowners, and community advocates working to promote, preserve, and protect the Southside. Our annual Oktoberfest helps fund many of the projects that support those goals.
From the beginning, we focused on branding, historic preservation, and beautification. Early efforts included creating our logo and banners, helping place numerous properties on the National Register of Historic Places, landscaping the 100 block of West Dunklin, installing decorative signpost covers, and creating Munichburg Corner at Dunklin and Jefferson. The corner honors our forebears and incorporates stone salvaged from the former Nilges Grocery Store.
Over the years, we've collected oral histories, strengthened Jefferson City's partnership with the original German Muenchberg, published books, sponsored speakers, and commissioned murals. We've launched Neighborhood Watches, established a Community Improvement District to replace sidewalks, and sponsored the Southside Market street festival. We also supported a community improvement plan that voters later approved.
Working alongside the City of Jefferson, we helped ensure the 2019 Dunklin Wear's Creek bridge created an attractive western gateway into Munichburg. We partnered with Parks and Recreation and students from Nichols Career Center to build the decorative archway at the Greenway trailhead near South School.
Historic preservation is one of our greatest passions. Together with Heritage Cabin Restorations and Historic City of Jefferson, we helped save an antebellum log cabin within our district. Today, 17 buildings in the neighborhood have received Jefferson City's Local Landmark designation, with OMA members submitting or assisting with many of those nominations.
Our work also includes the annual Southside Pride property improvement award and a college scholarship supporting students interested in historic preservation and economic development. We've partnered with organizations including Building Community Bridges, the Jefferson City Police Department, Jefferson City Fire Department, Historic City of Jefferson, Capital Region Medical Center, Habitat for Humanity, and many others.
Still, most people know us as the group behind Jefferson City's Oktoberfest.
This year marks our 25th Oktoberfest, and we hope you'll celebrate with us. Join us for our signature event, the Dachshund Derby and costume contest; the Kids' Corner with bounce houses, activities, and face painting; the Mid-MO Old Car Club show; live music; vendors; crafters; commemorative T-shirts; and, of course, plenty of beer, wine, and brats.
