Cole Camp Missouri's German Immigrant Memorial

In 1804, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory and doubled its’ size. By 1821, it had reached statehood and attracted a German writer named Gottfried Duden. Attracted to the area by the pioneers who had blazed a trail already, the young lawyer resolved to investigate for himself. He lived along the Missouri River, about 50 miles west of St. Louis, for three years from 1824-1827. In 1829, he returned to Germany to publish, A Report of a Journey to the Western States of North America, using just the right words to attract thousands of Germans to the Missouri River Valley. Soon, the trickle turned to thousands with formation of settlement societies, and groups of entire villages or religious preferences. Between 1834 and 1837, over 30,000 Germans came to Missouri. The floodgates of German immigration to Missouri had been opened, and the rest is as we say “history!”