[shouting and gunfire]
- Narrator: Many of the immigrants arriving in Sauk Prairie
were refugees from a failed revolution,
in what is now Germany.
- Michael Whaley: We generally categorize this group of people
as ‘48ers-- people who came over
because of the revolutions in Central Europe
in the late 1840s.
- Narrator: Eduard Schroeter led a movement
to reject the authority of the church,
and give individuals the freedom to develop
their own religious thoughts.
- Whaley: He had been pastor of a church for five years
in what is now Central Germany.
He had been expelled from Germany-- officially expelled.
He was declared an alien and sent away.
- Narrator: Schroeter helped to establish a Freie Gemeinde,
or free-thinking congregation in Sauk City.
- Whaley: He was kind of the eminence among Freethought leaders.
This guy could have gone anywhere in the United States,
so why did he stay here?
He met a 23-year-old member of the group,
Elise Cunradi Graepel; her husband had died young.
They got married in the spring.
He took over the leadership of the congregation in June.
So, I like to think it was love. It was just love.
And the congregation grew quite rapidly.
It was founded by 89 German-speaking people,
signed the foundation papers.
- Narrator: For 35 years, Schroeter led the Freethinkers,
who welcomed residents of all faiths to Park Hall,
the scene of countless lectures, concerts, and celebrations.
- Whaley: They really built it as a community space.
They put in a stage
which has been the scene of many theatrics.
The hall itself can seat easily 150 people.
It's in a two-acre park.
It was the first park that was platted in Sauk City,
when the congregation bought it.
They wanted it to serve their community.
But I think the reason they flourished here
and succeeded as much as they did--
I mean we're the only Freie Gemeinde left
in the United States there were once 75--
is because it was a small community,
and these were neighbors, and you had to get along.
It was the frontier. It wasn't easy for anybody.
You had to get along. [birds chirping]