{{short description|American politician (1827–1905)}} {{for|the German illustrator and graphic artist|Emil Preetorius (visual artist)}} {{More footnotes needed|date=October 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder | image = Emil Preetorius.png | office = Member of the Missouri House of Representatives | district = | term_start = 1862 | term_end = 1864 | birth_date = {{birth date|1827|3|15}} | birth_place = Alzey, German Confederation | death_date = {{death date and age|1905|11|19|1827|3|15}} | death_place = St. Louis, Missouri | death_cause = | monuments = | other_names = | party = Radical Republican | alma_mater = Heidelberg University | occupation = Journalist, lawyer, activist | known_for = | spouse = Magdalena Schmidt | children = 2 | parents = | relatives = }}

'''Emil Preetorius''' (15 March 1827 – 19 November 1905) was a German American journalist. He was part-owner and editor of the ''Westliche Post'', one of the most notable and well-circulated German-language newspapers in the United States.<ref>Saalberg, 1968</ref>

==Biography== He was born on 15 March 1827, in Alzey, then part of the German Confederation, and attended gymnasiums at Mainz and Darmstadt, and then the Universities of Giessen and Heidelberg. He graduated from Heidelberg in 1848. He began the practice of law with considerable success, but in consequence of having participated in the revolutionary movements of 1848, he was obligated to leave Germany in 1850.

Preetorius arrived in St. Louis in 1854, and engaged for a while in mercantile pursuits. When the Civil War broke out in 1861, he devoted his time and means to organizing German regiments and sending them to the field. In 1862, he was elected to the Missouri state legislature on the radical emancipation ticket, and positioned himself as an "immediate emancipationist". In 1864, he resumed business pursuits, became editor of the ''Westliche Post'', and took an active part in the presidential campaign. In 1872, he identified himself with the Liberal Republicans. Preetorius was a crisp, clear writer, and a logical and convincing speaker. His lectures on aesthetics, philosophy and history attracted much attention, not only among Germans, but among English speakers as well. His direction placed the ''Westliche Post'' in the front rank of American journalism.<ref>Saalberg, 1968</ref>

When the ''Westliche Post'' merged with the ''Anzeiger des Westens'' in 1898, he and Carl Daenzer, the latter the editor of the ''Anzeiger'', both retired. Preetorius died at his home at 2013 Park Avenue in St. Louis. The year before his death, influenced by his son, Edward L. Preetorius, he had refused a decoration from Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. He had also refused decorations from the Kaiser in years past. He never went back to Germany saying that when he would have gone back he could not, and when he could have gone back, he would not.

==See also== * Forty-Eighters * German American journalism

==Notes== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * Saalberg, Harvey. "Dr. Emil Preetorius, Editor-in-Chief Of The 'Westliche Post' 1864-1905," ''Bulletin of the Missouri Historical Society'' (1968) 24#2 pp 103–112. * J. Thomas Scharf, ''History of St. Louis'' etc. (2 vols.), Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts & Co., 1883, v. I, p.&nbsp;942. * {{Cite DAB|title=Preetorius, Emil|volume=VIII, Part 1|year=1963|pages=185}} * [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9F04E6DC143DE733A25753C2A9679D946497D6CF Obituary] from The New York Times

[[Image:Naked Truth.jpg|thumb|''The Naked Truth'', unveiled in 1914, was a gift to the city of St. Louis by the German-American Alliance in honor of Carl Schurz, Emil Preetorius and Carl Daenzer, editors of the ''Westliche Post''. (sculptor Wandschneider)]] * {{Cite encyclopedia|author=Lawrence O. Christensen|encyclopedia=Dictionary of Missouri biography|title=Emil Preetorius|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6gyxWHRLAWgC&pg=PA624|page=624|year=1999|publisher=University of Missouri Press|isbn=9780826260161}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Preetorius, Emil}} Category:1827 births Category:1905 deaths Category:People from Alzey Category:American male journalists Category:German-American Forty-Eighters Category:Emigrants from the German Confederation to the United States Category:University of Giessen alumni Category:Heidelberg University alumni Category:Missouri Liberal Republicans Category:Politicians from Rhenish Hesse Category:Republican Party members of the Missouri House of Representatives Category:Publishers (people) of German-language newspapers in the United States Category:19th-century members of the Missouri General Assembly