Kleindeutschland

What aspects of a neighborhood expose its roots and history? Where do you get information about the communities that shaped your neighborhood? How did New York’s “Germantown” completely relocate in a matter of a few years, and why don’t we hear about it more often? At the turn of the 20th century, New York City had the largest German population in the world outside of Germany. German immigrants settling in New York City found their way to Kleindeutschland–“Little Germany” or, the Lower East Side–in the decades leading up to 1900. Kleindeutschland bustled with highly-educated German immigrants, new businesses (picture Germany beer saloons on every corner!), art, traditions, and a gradually increasing population. A few years into the 20th century, however, Germans started moving uptown in huge numbers for a fresh start. The story often told: uptown, they’d have access to…