Teutopolis is a village in Effingham County, Illinois. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 1,618.
History
Teutopolis, "City of the Teutons", or Germans, was established in 1839 along the National Road, now U.S. Route 40. It is the only town in the United States with this name.
Clemens Uptmor from the Duchy of Oldenburg, and Kingdom of Hanover, Germany, came to the United States in 1834 along with his brother Herman H. Uptmor and a few neighbors. They settled first in Cincinnati, then the gateway to the west for German Catholics. In 1837 they formed a land company for the purchase of government land under the name of "Deutsche Land-Compagnie oder Ansiedlungsgesellschaft". John F. Waschefort, Clemens Uptmor and Gerard H. Bergfeld were named to find a location for settlement and then give their recommendations to the land company. The committee opposed settling in Missouri because of slavery and were discouraged from settling in the north central area of Illinois because of the swamps and the black soil. The northeast part of Effingham County was recommended because of the woodlands, well-drained uplands and plentiful game.
Gerhardt Meyer and Heinrich Roennebaum accompanied the original trio back to Illinois to inspect the proposed site. The location was approved, and in July 1839 in Vandalia the land was claimed for homestead purposes in the name of John F. Waschefort. were purchased at $1.25 per acre, with an additional being purchased for $5.00 an acre. The town site was surveyed and platted by William J. Hankins. The plan of the town was very similar to the plat of the original town of Cincinnati.
Back in Cincinnati the land was allotted at a drawing held in a fire engine house. For each $50.00 a member contributed he received one "in-lot" and one "out-lot" or "garden lot" in the town and an additional parcel of farmland for a total of . Geography Teutopolis is located in northeastern Effingham County and U.S. Route 40 (National Road) passes through the center of the village, leading west into Effingham, the county seat, and east to Montrose.
According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Teutopolis has a total area of , all land.
Demographics
2020 census As of the 2020 census, Teutopolis had a population of 1,618. There were 499 families in the village. The population density was .
The median age was 36.0 years. 27.2% of residents were under the age of 18 and 17.1% were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 103.0 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 102.8 males age 18 and over.
93.9% of residents lived in urban areas, while 6.1% lived in rural areas.
Of the 606 households, 35.1% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 58.7% were married-couple households, 16.7% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 19.0% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 23.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.97 and the average family size was 2.37.
There were 630 housing units, of which 3.8% were vacant. The homeowner vacancy rate was 0.2% and the rental vacancy rate was 9.0%. The average housing unit density was .
+ Racial composition as of the 2020 census Race Number Percent White 1,575 97.3% Black or African American 1 0.1% American Indian and Alaska Native 2 0.1% Asian 6 0.4% Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander 0 0.0% Some other race 9 0.6% Two or more races 25 1.5% Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 13 0.8%
Income and poverty The median income for a household in the village was $72,404, and the median income for a family was $95,583. Males had a median income of $47,794 versus $27,292 for females. The per capita income for the village was $34,393. About 1.0% of families and 3.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.0% of those under age 18 and 13.0% of those age 65 or over.
Ferd Metten, Teutopolis Folk Artist
Ferd Metten was a carver from rural Teutopolis who actively created folk art during the 1940s-1970s era. Ferd's grandfather was Joseph Metten. Joseph was born in Hanover, Saxony, Germany, circa 1808. He emigrated to the United States and married Maria Wilhemenia Wilthorn in Cincinnati, Ohio around 1840. The couple moved to Teutopolis, and Ferd's father, Henry Metten, was born in 1853. Henry Metten married Ferd's mother, Theresia Catherine Krone, in 1883. Henry Metten died in 1916. Theresia Krone Metten lived to be 91 and died in 1961. Ferd Metten was born on October 28, 1893 and died on October 19, 1977. He is buried in St. Francis Parish Cemetery in Teutopolis, Illinois.
Years after his death, Ferd Metten received some national recognition. His biography in a volume about American self-taught art was short and to the point: Metten worked as a farmer. He began art at age 47 and made dioramas of painted wood and carvings, many of them mechanized. Subjects were rural, memories, people, religion, politics. Style was representational.
Mr. Metten's work was displayed locally around Teutopolis before it attracted attention elsewhere. There was an exhibit in the west window of Wessel and Fulle's store on Route 40 three years in a row, starting in 1954. A square dance diorama was mentioned. It was very detailed and took over 400 hours for him to complete. The 1954 and 1955 display was a steam powered threshing machine diorama. That artwork included the threshing machine, a separator, several field hands, a grain wagon, stacks of straw bundles, a straw stack, an extra team of horses with a driver aboard, and a rail fence with chickens perched on top. Mr. Metten said it took him a full year to complete it.
Mr. Metten's carvings went further afield in the 1960s. When the Power Progress Show was held in Pickneyville, Illinois in August of 1966, Harry and Ferd Metten attended, along with Ed Jansen, Hank Ruholl, and Leo Vahling. Mr. Jansen showed a 1936 Rumley, and Harry Metten exhibited a Rumley Oil Pull. Ferd Metten put some of his carvings on display, one of which was a Rumley Oil Pull. The Rumley was fueled by kerosene. The brand originated with a family of German immigrants from LaPorte, Indiana. The company pioneered big tractors and threshing machines, starting in the 1880s.
There was an exhibit of seven of his diorama in May of 1965 at the Helen Mathes Library in Effingham. The city's public library was on Market Street at the time. Among the works displayed were The Village Store, A Village Wedding, The Fiddlers, and The Westward Movement. The latter had been created in honor of the Teutopolis Quasiquicentennial in 1965.
Teutopolis was part of the Illinois Sesquicentennial celebration in the 1960s. The Effingham Regional Historical Society planned an October, 1967 road tour of local historic sites. In or near Teutopolis, those sites included St. Joseph Seminary, the Franciscan Monestery and Masoleum, St. Francis Church, the Our Lady of Lourdes shrine, the Waschfort Home (Habing Funeral Home), and the 1839 Vahling log cabin. In addition, Ferd Metten exhibited his carvings at his family's home just down the road and across the crick from St. Francis Parish Cemetery.
The following month, Ferd Metten took his carvings across the county line into Lillyville. The Lillyville Grade School was part of School District No. 50. On November 15, 1967, the Joliet Franciscan Sisters stationed at Lillyville hosted an evening for the entire Unit No. 50 Grade School faculty, as well as for the Sisters from Sigel Grade School in Shelby County. A Sigel Franciscan and a Chicago Franciscan gave a Music Demonstration. An Art Appreciation exhibit of Ferd Metten's folk art work was set up in the Lillyville Grade School basement.
In the summer of 1968, the Effingham Historical Society collaborated with the Campground Owners Association of Effingham to promote interests in camping, crafts, local events and historic sites by producing a brochure, Effingham Outdoors. The Old Settlers Reunion was one of the outdoor events, and Ferd Metten was part of it. The Sesquicentennial Old Settlers Reunion was held on the Effingham Court House lawn. What was the courthouse then is now the Effingham County Museum. The Effingham Handicrafters participated. Multiple crafts were exhibited and demonstrated during the September 6-8, 1968 event. There was weaving, chair caning, wool spinning, and candle making, among other things. Ferd showed his work and demonstrated his techniques at a table on the lawn.
Displays of Ferd's work continued locally up through the time of his death in 1977, both at his home and in the village of Teutopolis. In May of 1971, he and his family entertained twelve nuns from St. Dominic's Convent in Breeze, Illinois. On Ascension Thursday, the women started their day at the Charles Hotze home. The Hotze's daughter, Sister Jane Marie, was the convent superior. After that, they went on a hayride and ended up at the Metten homestead. Ferd showed them his carvings and Harry explained their saw mill and other machinery. The boys' sister, Emma, put out her many quilts for their viewing. The nuns voted it a enjoyable and educational trip.
That same year, his work was shown at the Knights of Columbus Annual Picnic in Teutopolis. At the time, the Knights were in charge of the Monastery Library and Museum. Ferd Metten's folk art was also part of the Annual Cancer Day Parade and Picnic that originated with a local dentist, Dr. F. L. Weber. In 1976, the Teutopolis Monastery Museum was open on the first Sunday of the month on a fairly regular basis. Ferd's creation made of sliced walnut shells was mentioned as a unique feature.
The visibility of Ferd Metten's art moved onto the regional scene in 1977 when it was featured with work of other folk artists at Eastern Illinois University. It was part of "Celebration '77 - A Festival of the Arts" in the Paul Sargent Art Gallery. Mr. Phil Settle was on staff at the School of Fine Arts at EIU at the time. He was active in a grant-funded field investigation of regional folk artists. Vaughn Janike was the Dean of School of Fine Arts and he wrote the grant. The area of state being investigated was bounded by I-57 to the west, Illinois Route 36 to the north, the Indiana border to the east, and south to the Ohio River. Field researchers located and visited artists like Ferd Metten to examine the validity and quality of their work. One of the investigators was Jens (Jeff) Lund. He was a Danish immigrant and naturalized American citizen. Lund was a doctoral student at Indiana University, majoring in Americana and Folk Art. Because of Settle's preparation and Lund's fieldwork, Ferd Metten's carvings made the cut for inclusion in EIU's 1977 festival.
Some of Ferd Metten's work was wired and lit with 1960s era Christmas tree bulbs. One of them was a diorama of an oil drilling rig. Ferd and his brother drove their farm equipment from their home on the hill over Salt Creek to outlying parcels to the east, and Ferd would have seen these drill rigs in action. A work crew was always present and drilling went on 24 hours a day. Ferd had a keen eye for detail and the light at the top of his carved rig was in exactly the right place.