Wittenberg, floods - Memories of small town

If you follow Route A to the Mississippi River without turning on the Tower Rock Road, you'll arrive at what's left of Wittenberg, Mo.

The U.S. Postal Service gave up on the post office there after the 1993 flood.

That was a decade after the townsfolks -- all five of them -- gave up on the town.

It was on May 10, 1983, that the Perry County Court agreed to the request of Wittenberg residents to legally "disincorporate" their town.

The decision all but marked the final chapter in the history of the more-than-a-century-old riverboat town, which was then the smallest incorporated town in Missouri and one of the top five smallest in the nation.

It wasn't always that way in Wittenberg.

A 1927 picture of George Fiehler's Garage, which appeared on the Faces & Places page of the Southeast Missourian recently, was a reminder of an older and more prosperous Missouri community.

The community, about 75 miles downstream from metropolitan St. Louis, was founded more than 160 years ago, in 1839, when 700 Saxons from Germany came to Missouri to establish a religious colony. A number of communities were founded -- Wittenberg, Altenburg, Frohna, among them.

By the Civil War, Wittenberg had a post office, a tavern, a railroad station, a three-story hotel, a flour mill. The town also had a brewery operated by Frank Adam Brenner. Everybody in the Wittenberg area has heard, or told, the story of "what could have been."

Brenner's friend and early partner was Eberhardt Anheuser, who came to Wittenberg to open the brewery with his friend Brenner. But Anheuser didn't like small towns, so he headed north to St. Louis to try his luck in brewing beer in the big city.

Over the years, both men did a fair amount of business with their ventures. Many barrels of beer rolled out of the Brenner Brewery in Wittenberg. Even more rolled out of the E. Anheuser & Co. Brewery of St. Louis.

Anheuser's daughter married Augustus Busch, leading to the eventual birth of the now giant Anheuser-Busch Co. Residents around the Wittenberg area say that Anheuser was the same Eberhardt Anheuser that started the big brewery in St. Louis.

The only thing left today of the Brenner Brewery is an old tunnel carved into a bluff.

Wittenberg's population fluctuated over a century.

In 1900, 114 residents were counted in Wittenberg. By 1910, the population had dwindled to 87.

This was followed by some good years, with a population shift to 226 by 1920. The 1927 flood had taken its toll, and the population fell to 95 by 1930. From there it went down.

And down -- 84 in 1940, 54 in 1950 and 20 in 1960. The population continued to dwindle, and by 1971 the census sign read, "Wittenberg, Population 9."

Half of the population left during the next decade. So, the sign was changed: "Wittenberg, Population 4."

There was no town board left, only a mayor, and he applied for "disincorporation," which was granted.

Wittenberg wasn't without some notoriety during its long history. In 1922, a widely hunted train robber named John F. Kennedy -- no relation to the famous clan -- was ambushed and killed after he robbed a mail coach a few miles away.

Wittenberg still has a tourist attraction. It's nearby Tower Rock, a giant rock which juts out of the Mississippi River. Tower rock is a historic site included on the National Register of Historic Places.

It has been recorded that three priests traveling down the Mississippi River from Quebec, Canada, erected a cross in 1698 at Tower Rock in hopes that others journeying downstream would see it.

Two century-old structures were closed at Wittenberg in 1969 -- a one-room grade school and the 103-year-old Grayson Tavern. During the last school year of 1968-69, the school had 15 students and was the oldest school in Perry County.

At that time, Wittenberg wasn't the smallest incorporated city in the nation, but it was among the five smallest. Today's smallest "corporated" cities -- from the 1990 census -- are: Glenwood Plantation, Maine; Hove Mobile Park, N.D.; Florida, Miss.; and Gants Quarry, Ala., each with two citizens. Number five? Lost Springs, Wyo., with three residents.

Civil War Round Table

Weapons, clothing and shelter were of great importance to soldiers of the Civil War, but food and cooking techniques were necessary elements of survival.

Hardtack, sweet potatoes, corn fritters, swamp cabbage stew, hoe cakes and plain Irish stew were familiar items on menus during the Civil War.

Hardtack was easily prepared -- just mix flour and water, then bake.

For corn fritters, the hardtack recipe was used, adding kernel corn and an egg or two if available.

Corn fritters are among the items on the menu for the Cape Girardeau County Chapter of the Civil War Round Table cookout, to be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in the picnic grove area at Hanover Lutheran Church, 2949 Perryville Road.

"We've had sweet potatoes at past cookouts," said Rob Weeks, "but they're not on this year's menu."

Saturday's meeting will feature authentic Civil War-period dishes, cooked over an open fire outside, said Weeks, a spokesman for the club. The club will provide the main dish, a ham poddage, which will be prepared by a Civil War re-enactor.

The poddage is a stew made with ham, bacon, tomatoes and a few other ingredients prepared in a kettle.

"Club members have already signed up to bring other dishes, including corn fritters," said Weeks.

Also on Saturday's menu will be coffee, prepared over an open fire, ginger ale, root beer, some fruits and vegetables.

People interested in historical events of the War Between the States are invited to attend Civil War Round Table meetings, which are usually held on Sundays. For more information on joining the group, contact Weeks at 335-8361 or Michael Hahn at 334-1928.