New Wells is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in northern Cape Girardeau County,

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

, United States. It is located north of

Cape Girardeau Cape Girardeau ( , ; colloquially referred to as "Cape") is a city in Cape Girardeau and Scott Counties in the U.S. state of Missouri. At the 2020 census, the population was 39,540, making it the 17th-largest in the state. The city is one o ...

and is part of the Cape Girardeau–

Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...

, MO- IL Metropolitan Statistical Area.

Demographics

Etymology

The source of the original name Johannisberg remains something of a mystery. There are many German places by that name, but none of them is listed as the original home of any of the Saxon colony that came to Perry County. It is not likely to have been the well-known Johannisberg on the

Rhine The Rhine ( ) is one of the List of rivers of Europe, major rivers in Europe. The river begins in the Swiss canton of Graubünden in the southeastern Swiss Alps. It forms part of the Swiss-Liechtenstein border, then part of the Austria–Swit ...

, which is a Catholic stronghold, nor is it likely to have been Johannisberg in

East Prussia East Prussia was a Provinces of Prussia, province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1772 to 1829 and again from 1878 (with the Kingdom itself being part of the German Empire from 1871); following World War I it formed part of the Weimar Republic's ...

, which also would not have had any connection with the Saxons. Austrian settlers referred to the community as Neu

Wels Wels (; Central Bavarian: ''Wös'') is a city in Upper Austria, on the Traun River near Linz. It is the county seat of Wels-Land, and with a population of approximately 60,000, the List of cities and towns in Austria, eighth largest city in Aus ...

, after the city in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

, which was later Americanized to ''New Wells''.

History

Johannisberg was one of the seven colonies established in 1839 in the Saxon Migration to

Perry County, Missouri Perry County is a county located in the southeastern portion of the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 census, the population was 18,956. Its county seat is Perryville. The county was officially organized on November 16, 1820 (effectiv ...

. Johannisberg is said to have been an offshoot of the

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

settlement. In May 1840, the members of the New York group of Saxon migrants who had arrived in December 1839, and who had been members of C. F. W. Walther's congregation at Dresden, branched off and founded a village away in Cape Girardeau County. It is thought the split was caused by a quarrel over the sale of lots at

Wittenberg Wittenberg, officially Lutherstadt Wittenberg, is the fourth-largest town in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, in the Germany, Federal Republic of Germany. It is situated on the River Elbe, north of Leipzig and south-west of the reunified German ...

to the general public. Members of the New York group violently opposed this move, which was proposed because of the failure of Wittenberg to grow as fast as had been hoped. They severed financial connections with the community, and withdrew into a separate settlement, although they continued other connections with the Saxons. Walther continued to serve both Dresden and Johannisberg until the end of 1841, but after his departure for

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

both were made branches of Altenburg. An account in the ''Western District Lutheran'' tells how in the late 1840s services were held on a hill near the town. In 1852, fresh settlers arrived from Austria, and these for a while continued to attend church at Altenburg in Perry County. At this time the place began to be known to the people of Altenburg by the name of , German for ''Austria''. But because Apple Creek often rose and prevented attendance at the church in Altenburg, a separate church was organized in 1853 for Johannisberg. L. F. Dippold, pastor at Johannisberg, wrote that the Austrian settlers never called the place ''Österreich'', but rather called it after their home city of

, located southwest of

Linz Linz (Pronunciation: , ; ) is the capital of Upper Austria and List of cities and towns in Austria, third-largest city in Austria. Located on the river Danube, the city is in the far north of Austria, south of the border with the Czech Repub ...

Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...

, and later the name was Americanized to New Wells.

Education

New Wells is in the Jackson R-II School District,
Text list
/ref> which operates Jackson High School.

References

{{authority control German-American culture in Missouri Unincorporated communities in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri Cape Girardeau–Jackson metropolitan area Unincorporated communities in Missouri Census-designated places in Missouri Census-designated places in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri