San Antonio: Hermann Sons Grand Lodge

Two storey building with sign saying Hermann Sons Bowling Lanes

Hermann Sons Grand Lodge (Larry D. Moore CC BY-SA 3.0)

Large room with a raised platform and a stained glass window showing a bearded man wearing chest armor, a long cape, a winged helmet, raising a sword

Inside Hermann Sons Grand Lodge.

Group of men wearing sashes posing for a picture in a park area

Delegates to the first grand lodge of the Order of the Herman Sons, San Antonio, 1890. (Hermann Sons Life)

Group of men wearing costume-like coats, fake beards, and pinned up wide brimmed hats, each holding a carpet bag with a name and fictional place like Coon Holler and Rattlesnake Hill

Members of the Hermann Sons of San Antonio holding bags with their names and fictitious addresses on each, ca. 1900. (UTSA Special Collections Library)

Group of women wearing sashes with stars and two men posing for a photograph

Louise Schuetze Lodge members, 1912. (UTSA Special Collections Library)

Group of people on the staircase of a large building. Photo labeled “Altenheim O.D.H.S.” and “Comfort Texas, April 15, 1920

Hermann Sons Retirement Home in Comfort, 1920. (Hermann Sons Life)

Group of teenage girls wearing short blue polka skirts with white blouses and suspenders, and knee high boots dancing on a covered pavilion stage

Hermann Sons Polkateers performing at the Texas Folklife Festival in San Antonio, 1991. (UTSA Special Collections Library)

Many German immigrants to the United States joined the Sons of Hermann, a fraternal insurance society, so that if they fell on hard times, became ill, or lost a loved one, they could enjoy some financial security. The first Sons of Hermann chapters were in New York City in 1840, and were reserved for German men. Texas’s first chapter launched in San Antonio in 1861. That same year, member Heinrich Werner died, and the San Antonio lodge paid for the funeral expenses and supported his widow financially for a time.

Hermann Sons Life still offers its insurance policies to Texans – of any ethnicity – today. Its headquarters in San Antonio are open to the public and contain exhibits showcasing the society’s history.

Hermann Sons Grand Lodge

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