{{short description|German American educationist}} {{infobox person |name = Peter Engelmann |image = Peter Engelmann.png |caption = From ''History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895'' (1895) |birth_date = {{birth date|1823|1|24}} |birth_place = Argenthal, Rhine Province, {{nobreak|Kingdom of Prussia}} |death_date = {{death date and age|1874|5|17|1823|1|24}} |death_place = Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S. |spouse = {{marriage|Jane Young|1849|1856|end=died}} |known_for = Founded the Milwaukee Public Museum and the "German-English Academy" of Milwaukee }} '''Peter Engelmann''' (January 24, 1823{{spaced ndash}}May 17, 1874) was a German American immigrant, educationist, writer, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was the founder of the collection which became the Milwaukee Public Museum, and was also founder of the influential "German-English Academy" of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which lives on as part of the University School of Milwaukee.
== Early life and flight from Germany== Peter Engelmann was born on January 24, 1823, in Argenthal, in the Rhine Province of the Kingdom of Prussia.<ref name="rhine">{{cite web|url= https://rpb.lbz-rlp.de/cgi-bin/wwwalleg/srchrnam.pl?db=rnam&recnums=0000510 |title= Engelmann, Peter / 1823-1874 |website= Rhineland-Palatinate personal database |accessdate= August 9, 2022 |language= de }}</ref> He studied at the University of Heidelberg and at the Humboldt University of Berlin.<ref name="wihist">{{Cite web |url= https://wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Article/CS7462 |title=Engelmann, Peter 1823 - 1874 |website= Wisconsin Historical Society |date=8 August 2017 |access-date=2021-06-18}}</ref> He received his teaching license in 1846, and began teaching at the Kreuznach Gymnasium that year.
At Bad Kreuznach, he became affiliated with the republican movement and founded the Kreuznacher Gymnastics and Civic Association, which led to his dismissal from teaching.<ref name="rhine"/> He then became a writer and editor of a Prussian revolutionary newspaper, the ''Freier Demokrat'' (''Free Democrat''), in the midst of the German revolutions of 1848–1849.<ref name="wihist"/>
After Prussia and the various German states crushed the effort to create a German Republic, Engelmann was threatened with jail for his revolutionary activities and decided to flee Germany.<ref name="rhine"/> He emigrated to the United States—like many other German Forty-Eighters. He initially came to Marshall, Michigan, where he worked on a farm, but then made his way to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and finally to Milwaukee.<ref name="wihist"/>
==German-American Academy== In Milwaukee, he was quickly employed as a teacher for German American students, and he became deeply involved with the Milwaukee ''Schulverein''—"school society". Through his efforts, they established the German-English Academy—with a charter from the Wisconsin Legislature—in May 1851.<ref name="wihist"/> Engelmann was an active member of the [https://www.milwaukeeturners.org/ Milwaukee Turners] at Turner Hall and served as director of the German-English Academy from 1851 until his death, pioneering bilingual education, physical training, the arts, and establishing the city’s first kindergarten in 1873.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Milwaukee Turners |url=https://emke.uwm.edu/entry/milwaukee-turners/ |access-date=2026-01-27 |website=Encyclopedia of Milwaukee |language=en-US}}</ref> Engelmann served as director of the academy for the rest of his life. The school was so closely associated with him, it was often referred to alternatively as the "Engelmann School".<ref name="memoirs"/>
The school gave instruction partly in English and partly in German, and pursued a well-rounded education including classes such as singing, gymnastics, and drawing. The school attempted to help students learn how to think for themselves, challenging students to observe and question.<ref name="enc"/> In 1873, Engelmann also established a kindergarten in his academy.<ref name="wihist"/> This was the first kindergarten in Milwaukee and only the third in the country.<ref name="conard">{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/historyofmilwauk01cona/ |title= History of Milwaukee from its first settlement to the year 1895 |year= 1895 |last= Conard |first= Howard L. |volume= 1 |publisher= American Biographical Publishing Co. |pages= [https://archive.org/details/historyofmilwauk01cona/page/185/ 185], [https://archive.org/details/historyofmilwauk01cona/page/187/ 187], [https://archive.org/details/historyofmilwauk01cona/page/462/ 462–463] |accessdate= August 9, 2022 }}</ref>
The school continued after his death. It later came to be known as the "Milwaukee University School" and, in 1964, it merged with other Milwaukee private schools to form the University School of Milwaukee.<ref name="enc">{{cite web|url= https://emke.uwm.edu/entry/university-school-of-milwaukee/ |title= University School of Milwaukee |website= Encyclopedia of Milwaukee |accessdate= August 9, 2022 }}</ref>
==Milwaukee Public Museum== In 1857, Engelmann was also one of the founders of the Wisconsin Natural History Society ("''Naturhistorichen Verein von Wisconsin''").<ref name="wihist"/> The society accumulated a collection of specimens and manuscripts, referred to as the "Engelmann Museum". In 1882, the collection was turned over to the city of Milwaukee, which continued the exhibit as the Milwaukee Public Museum.<ref name="memoirs">{{cite book|url= https://archive.org/details/memoirsofmilwauk01watr/ |title= Memoirs of Milwaukee County |volume = 1 |year= 1909 |publisher= Western Historical Association |last= Watrous |first= Jerome A. |pages= [https://archive.org/details/memoirsofmilwauk01watr/page/418/ 418], [https://archive.org/details/memoirsofmilwauk01watr/page/426/ 426] |accessdate= August 9, 2022 }}</ref>
==Personal life and legacy== Engelmann married Jane Young in Michigan shortly after his arrival in America in 1849, but she died in 1856. They had no children.<ref name="conard"/>
He was also active in several organizations of freethinkers, wrote numerous articles, and lectured before liberal and scientific societies.<ref name="wihist"/>
He died at his home in Milwaukee on the night of May 17, 1874, after a bout of Pneumonia.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.newspapers.com/clip/107266028/peter-engelmann-obit/ |title= Wisconsin Items |newspaper= Wisconsin State Journal |date= May 19, 1874 |accessdate= August 9, 2022 |via= Newspapers.com }}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Engelmann, Peter}} Category:American educational theorists Category:Educators from Wisconsin Category:Heidelberg University alumni Category:Emigrants from the Kingdom of Prussia to the United States Category:People from the Rhine Province Category:People from Marshall, Michigan Category:People from Oshkosh, Wisconsin Category:Writers from Milwaukee Category:1823 births Category:1874 deaths Category:German-American Forty-Eighters Category:19th-century American educators Category:Humboldt University of Berlin alumni