Strehly House / The Strehlys

The Strehly House combines European half-timber construction with the local brick tradition and represents less affluent Germans who emigrated to Missouri in the early 19th century, survived frontier hardships, and prospered in the New World. Carl Strehly added two rooms to the house, completing it in the 1860s. On this site, the radical journal Licht-Freund was published by Edward Muehl and his brother-in-law, Carl Procopius Strehly. Muehl, a freidenker, opposed slavery, and his influential voice among Germans statewide helped Missouri stay with the Union during the Civil War. The house is also notable for its attached commercial building. In 1855, Carl Strehly entered the wine business, which the city council had actively encouraged since 1844, and built an addition with a wine cellar, production area, tavern, and dance hall. In the 19th century, the winery's upper floor served as a dance hall and erholung, a carved wine cask signed and dated 1875 depicted Bacchus, and vineyards were interspersed among the houses in this part of Hermann, with vines behind the house dating from the 1850s.

Hermann, Missouri · United States