Editing Turners (section)

== History in the United States ==
[[File:American Turners stamp, Scott 979.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|Postage stamp commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the American Turners]]

The Turner movement was preceded by the first wave of gymnastics in the United States in the 1820s, led by Germans, such as [[Charles Beck]] and [[Charles Follen]], and Americans, such as [[John Neal]]. Beck opened the first gymnasium in the U.S. in 1825 at the [[Round Hill School]] in Northampton, Massachusetts.<ref>{{cite book |last=Leonard |first=Fred Eugene |title=A Guide to the History of Physical Education |publisher=Lea & Febiger |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York, New York |year=1923 |url= https://archive.org/details/guidetohistoryof00leon/ |pages=232–233}}</ref> Follen opened the first college gymnasium and the first public gymnasium in the States in 1826 at [[Harvard College]] and in Boston, Massachusetts, respectively.<ref>{{cite book |last=Leonard |first=Fred Eugene |title=A Guide to the History of Physical Education |publisher=Lea & Febiger |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York, New York |year=1923 |url = https://archive.org/details/guidetohistoryof00leon/ |pages=235–236}}</ref> Neal was the first American to open a public gymnasium in the U.S. in Portland, Maine in 1827.<ref>{{cite book |last=Leonard |first=Fred Eugene |title=A Guide to the History of Physical Education |publisher=Lea & Febiger |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York, New York |year=1923 |url= https://archive.org/details/guidetohistoryof00leon/ |pages=227–250}}</ref> He also documented and promoted these early efforts in the ''American Journal of Education''<ref>{{cite book | last = Leonard | first = Fred Eugene | title = A Guide to the History of Physical Education | publisher = Lea & Febiger | location = Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and New York, New York | year = 1923 | url = https://archive.org/details/guidetohistoryof00leon/ | oclc = 561890463 | pages = 235–250}}</ref> and ''[[The Yankee]]'', helping to establish the American branch of the movement.<ref>{{cite news | last = Barry | first = William D. | date = May 20, 1979 | title = State's Father of Athletics a Multi-Faceted Figure | work = Maine Sunday Telegram | location = Portland, Maine | pages = 1D–2D}}</ref>

The ''Turnvereine'' made a contribution to the integration of German-Americans into their new home. The organizations continue to exist in areas of heavy German immigration, such as [[Iowa]], [[Texas]], [[Wisconsin]], [[Indiana]], [[Ohio]], [[Minnesota]], [[Missouri]], [[Syracuse, New York]], [[Kentucky]], [[New York City]], [[Sacramento]], and [[Los Angeles]].

About 1000 Turners served as Union soldiers during the Civil War. Anti-slavery was a common element, as typified by [[Carl Schurz]]. Many Republican leaders in German communities were members. They provided the bodyguard at Abraham Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, 1861, and at his funeral in April 1865. In the [[Camp Jackson Affair]], a large force of German volunteers helped prevent Confederate forces from seizing the government arsenal in [[St. Louis]] just prior to the beginning of the war.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.mcwm.org/history_germans.html |author=Scott Williams |title=THE ROLE OF GERMAN IMMIGRANTS IN CIVIL WAR - MISSOURI |publisher=The Missouri Civil War Museum |access-date=January 10, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120303013738/http://www.mcwm.org/history_germans.html |archive-date= March 3, 2012}}</ref>  After the Civil War, the national organization took a new name, ''Nordamerikanischer Turnerbund'', and supported German-language teaching in public high schools, as well as gymnastics. Women's auxiliaries were formed in the 1850s and 1860s. The high point in membership came in 1894, with 317 societies and about 40,000 adult male members, along with 25,000 children and 3000 women.<ref>Steven A. Reiss, ed., ''Sports in America from Colonial Times to the Twenty-First Century: An Encyclopedia'' (2011) pp 913-916.</ref>

In the 1904 Olympics several competitors represented various Turners organizations in Missouri, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, and some of the teams at the Olympics were sponsored by Turners organizations.

Like other [[German-American]] groups, the Turners experienced suspicion during [[World War I]], even though they now had very little contact with Germany. German-language instruction ended at many schools and universities, and the federal government imposed restrictions on German-language publications. The younger generation generally demanded the switch to the exclusive use of English society affairs, which allowed many Turner societies to continue to function.<ref name="Hofmann" />

[[Cultural assimilation]] and both World Wars with Germany took a gradual toll on membership, with some halls closing and others becoming regular dance halls, bars, or bowling alleys.<ref name="LeCompte" /> As of 2011, 54 Turner societies still existed around the U.S. The current headquarters of American Turners is in [[Louisville, Kentucky]].<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.americanturners.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx |title=Welcome to American Turners |publisher=American Turners |access-date=January 9, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://archive.today/20110406032743/http://www.americanturners.com/Home/tabid/36/Default.aspx |archive-date=April 6, 2011}}</ref>

In 1948, the [[US Post Office]] issued a 3-cent [[commemorative stamp]] to mark the 100th anniversary of the movement in the country.

The Turnverein in Sacramento, founded in 1854, claims to be the oldest institution within the city still in existence.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://sacramentoturnverein.com/ |title=Homepage of the Sacramento Turnverein |access-date=June 13, 2019}}</ref> The Turnverein Vorwaerts of [[Fort Wayne, Indiana]], owned the [[Hugh McCulloch House]] from 1906 until 1966.<ref name="SHAARD">{{cite web |url= https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/welcome.html |title=Indiana State Historic Architectural and Archaeological Research Database (SHAARD) |publisher=Department of Natural Resources, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology |format=Searchable database |access-date=July 1, 2015}} ''Note:'' This includes {{cite web |url = https://secure.in.gov/apps/dnr/shaard/r/1d859/N/Hugh_McCulloch_Home_Allen_CO_Nom.pdf |title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form: Hugh McCulloch House |access-date=July 1, 2015 |author=Karen Anderson |date=November 1979}} and Accompanying photographs.</ref>{{rp|2}}  It was listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1980.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a|dateform=mdy}}</ref>