Photo by Fritz Busch Established in 1856, Turner Hall features the oldest bar, the Rathskeller, and oldest gym still operating in Minnesota. The facility was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

NEW ULM — Just two years after New Ulm was founded in 1954, the New Ulm Turnervein (Turner association), was founded on Nov. 11, 1856.

The first Turner Hall in New Ulm was built in 1857 as a genuine community enterprise, according to writer Alice Felt Tyler.

Construction work including cutting down trees and floating them downstream to a sawmill.

New Ulm’s Turner Hall was the largest building in town, 40 by 70 feet, with small towers at each end. Made of wood, it was used for all Turner activities and as a school until one was built, and for all types of public meetings and many theatrical performances.

The original wooden Turner Hall was destroyed by fire during the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862 Battles of New Ulm. The current hall is located on top of the location of the original location.

Local, German-born architect Julius Berndt built the second Turner Hall on top of the original site in 1866. Berndt was later the architect of the Hermann Heights Monument. A big addition was added to the southern part of the building in 1873 and remains standing.

The first replacement to the building was a separate gym and theater, superceded the 1866 building section that was burned in a fire on Jan. 7, 1952.

The basement of Turner Hall includes a Rathskeller with massive wall murals, originally painted in 1873 by Guido Scheller, the husband of actress Marie Methua-Scheller, depicting German scenes. Other Rathskeller mural artists were Christian Heller 1887, Anton Gag 1901, and Carl Pfaender, among others.

The murals were conserved by Minnesota Historical and Cultural Heritage Grants from November 2012 to June 2014.

The New Ulm Turner Hall was chosen multiple times to host Turnfest, a national festival celebrating the history of the German Americans, Turners and gymnastics every four years as far back as 1865-66.

The facility was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its cultural significance to the City of New Ulm in the late 1970s.

New Ulm Turner Hall and the Rathskeller are used for weddings, celebrations, clubs, festivals and ceremonies in more recent years.

An effort to strengthen German resolve against the French conqueror Napolean, the Turner concept of developing a sound mind and body through discussion of common problems and physical exercise was conceived by Frederick Jahn of Berlin in 1811.