Often called "Little Germany," Hermann was founded in 1836 by the German Settlement Society of Philadelphia as a colony where German customs and language could be preserved amid the benefits of America. Named for the national Germanic hero, the town was laid out on part of the 11,300 acres bought by society agent George F. Bayer for $15,612. Although the society disbanded in 1839, German immigration continued steadily. Edward Muehl founded the German newspaper "Licht Freund" in 1843, and it soon became known for anti-slavery views, while a German school was chartered in 1849. Hermann developed as a river shipping point, and grape culture and wine making flourished; before Prohibition, one of the largest wineries in the U.S. stood here, and the famed viticulturist George Husmann had a vineyard near the town. Near the Hermann Bridge, completed in 1930, many German immigrants perished in the 1843 explosion of the steamboat Big Hatchie. In 1843 Hermann became the fourth town to serve as the seat of Gasconade County, whose present courthouse was built in 1898 with $50,000 donated by C. D. Eitzen. Gasconade County, organized in 1820 and named for the Gasconade River, saw early settlement drawn by niter found in caves, game, and timber, and one of its first officials was Daniel Morgan Boone, son of Daniel Boone. The returning Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1806 joyfully hailed the sight of cows along the riverbank here. When the Missouri Pacific Railroad reached Jefferson City in 1855, its first bridge over the Gasconade, about 7 miles west, collapsed under its first train and killed 28 passengers. Hermann remains reminiscent of Rhine Valley towns in its distinctive architecture amid the Ozark foothills, and it celebrates its heritage with Maifest, featuring German costume, music, and cookery, an old homes tour, Stone Hill Farm wine cellars now used for raising mushrooms, and a town museum.