Gift Shop
Please contact the Old Munichburg Association to make Giftshop purchases at:
Old Munichburg Association
P.O. Box 105806
Jefferson City, MO 65110
OR, message us on Facebook.
Old Munichburg/Oktoberfest T-shirts
All Old Munichburg/Oktoberfest t-shirts are now available directly from J Street Vintage located at 615 Jefferson Street, Jefferson City. Stop by and select from a variety of styles and sizes!
Old Munichburg Association memberships are a great way to show your support for the Southside. Become a member or consider giving a membership as a gift to someone in Jefferson City or out of town.
Click here to download a membership form that you can fill out and mail to OMA with your check.
The Old Munichburg Association has for sale a number of books that are of interest to history buffs and those with an interest or connection to Jefferson City and its historic German Southside. Titles available are:
NEW!
Zombies Invade the Southside!
and Other Boyhood Recollections about Growing Up in Jefferson City
by Walter A. Schroeder
This is not a horror novel—far from it!
Following his popular memoir Buddy’s Stories, historian Walter A. Schroeder presents another warm and colorful collection of more than 90 essays about growing up in Jefferson City in the 1940s.
With humor and insight, Schroeder provides a personal glimpse into his family life and his experiences as a child growing up in Jefferson City’s Southside neighborhood—a Germantown district also called Old Munichburg. It’s a treasury of essays describing his childhood growing up under the same roof as his immigrant grandparents, parents, two brothers, and renters, and surrounded by a vibrant, supportive community.
In the title essay, Schroeder shares a whimsical story of the time when all the kids on the block saw the movie Revenge of the Zombies and spent the next week staggering around the neighborhood's sidewalks, arms outstretched, wearing vacant expressions—causing passing motorists to do double-takes!
Schroeder’s crisp details revive scenes of the past so we can better understand and imagine Je!ferson City in the 1940s. As he explains, “In every generation . . . young people learn only the skeleton of the past. I want to put meat on the skeleton’s bones.”
This new book by Schroeder, a beloved Missouri geographer and historian, is not to be missed!
304 pages; 85 photographs and illustrations, index, 6 x 9"
$25
Available at Downtown Book & Toy, J Street Vintage, and Capital City Comics
Visit us on Facebook for info on upcoming booksignings by Walter Schroeder.
Buddy's Stories: Growing Up in Jefferson City in the 1940s
by Walter A. Schroeder
Generous with details, the geographer and historian Walter A. Schroeder—nicknamed “Buddy” in his youth—shares his personal memories of growing up in Jefferson City, Missouri. His descriptions will resonate with people who remember those simpler times, and they will cause others to reflect on what we lost as the years went by.
These 42 brief essays cover an array of topics about Jefferson City places, everyday life, the effects of World War II, and expressions of patriotism. How did families make ends meet? How did kids participate in the war effort? What was it like to have bread, eggs, milk, and coal delivered, to make sauerkraut in the basement, to be fitted for shoes with commercial X-ray machines? What did kids do for fun? How did the old Missouri River Bridge rotate, and what was it like to go to the dime store?
Engagingly written, enhanced by the judgment of a professional historian, and illustrated with 70 photos, maps, and scrapbook mementos, Buddy’s Stories is a vibrant perspective on Jefferson City history . . . and a fond commemoration of the way things used to be.
200 pages, paperback, 70 maps, photos, and illustrations, 6 x 9"
$15
Available at Downtown Book & Toy, J Street Vintage, and Capital City Comics
Breweries and Saloons in Jefferson City, Missouri
by Walter A. Schroeder
Got Gemütlichkeit? The German immigrants to Jefferson City certainly did, and from the time they started arriving in the area in the 1840s to the present day, good-natured beer drinking among friends has fostered social connections, spurred economic growth, fed the city’s hospitality industry, and nourished a sense of ethnic identity.
Historian, geographer, and native Southsider Walter Schroeder grew up in the shadow of Capitol Brewery, a grandson of German immigrants and an enthusiastic supporter of Munichburg’s history and future. In this book, he relates what he has learned about the city’s breweries, saloons, beer gardens, and other beer-related history.
From the earliest years of Jefferson City, its ethnic Germans have run breweries, gathered in beer gardens, and established saloons, taprooms, and taverns. In these pages you will learn about the following and much more:
- The George Wagner Brewery, which started in the Southside of Jefferson City in 1870, produced an impressive seventy barrels a day, and was one of the first companies to freeze its own ice.
- The Capitol Brewery, which offered authentic Bavarian beer and dominated the region’s beer sales from the 1890s through the end of World War II, grew to become the city’s Coca-Cola bottler.
- The Franz beer garden in the 1870s occupied the hilltop that is today the home of St. Mary’s Health Center. It was a grassy, breezy gathering place for relaxing, dancing, and singing, offering a tremendous view of the young town—plus sausage, cheese, crackers, and freshly made Franz beer.
- The ECCO Lounge, the city’s longest-running taproom and restaurant, has roots going back to 1860, when it offered food, libation, and lodging to out-of-town farmers who had carted their goods for sale in the capital city.
Although “having a beer with one’s friends” is certainly no longer a way to profile someone as “German” in Missouri’s capital city, everyone with an interest in the art and history of brewing, the many stories of the city, or German heritage will enjoy this celebration of the city’s German immigrants, their ethnic beverage, and its magical capacity for bringing people together.
50 pages, paperback, 38 illustrations, 6 x 9"
$8
Available at Downtown Book & Toy, J Street Vintage, and Capital City Comics