Turner Hall is a historic building located in

Postville, Iowa Postville is a city in Allamakee and Clayton counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. It lies near the junction of four counties and at the intersection of U.S. Routes 18 and 52 and Iowa Highway 51, with airport facilities in the neighboring comm ...

, United States. A '' Turn Verein'' was a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

social and athletic organization. Because Allamakee County in general, and Postville in particular, had a significant German immigrant population a ''Turn Verein'' was organized here. with Their first building was a frame structure on Green Street, but when it proved insufficient they built this two-story brick structure in 1914. While the local German population used the facility for their gymnastics and other social customs, it also was used by the community at large as a community center. Three weeks after it opened the community filled the hall to capacity to hear Postville native

John Mott John Raleigh Mott (May 25, 1865 – January 31, 1955) was an American evangelist and long-serving leader of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) and the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF). He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 19 ...

, national leader of the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It has nearly 90,000 staff, some 920,000 volunteers and 12,000 branches w ...

, speak. He would win the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

in 1946. From 1940 to 1990 the building housed the Postville city hall. Even during these years, and after, it was a meeting place for various community organizations. The building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2000.

References

Buildings and structures completed in 1914 Buildings and structures in Allamakee County, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Allamakee County, Iowa Clubhouses on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa German-American history German-American culture in Iowa 1914 establishments in Iowa

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