The Sausage Story

Felix Schultz had always had a beautiful voice. He would constantly sing back in his

hometown of Munich, Germany. And now, on the ship traveling the North Atlantic ocean headed

to New York, Felix sang some more. He paced back and forth anxious to get to his new home, all

the while yodelling his favorite yodel. His friend Oscar Ferdinand Mayer told him to calm down

and get some rest, for they still had the train ride to Detroit.1 Three years ago, in 1870, Oscar

moved to Munich at the age of 11 following the death of his father. He lived with his cousin John

Schroll and his family.2 John had been my neighbor at the time and although I was a bit older

than Oscar, we still became great friends within days of meeting each other. The only thing Felix

loved as much as singing was working with fine meats. In fact, that was the very thing that

brought Felix and Oscar together. Their shared passion for an art form so beautiful and ancient

and delicate.

Things werent always the best in Munich. The year of 1873 was not a very good one

economically. The Schroll family relied on John for money from his grocer job and when he was

laid off following the Panic of 1873, they began looking for a fresh start.2,3 Felix found himself in

a similar situation where he was fired from a local school. The economic crisis struck in Europe

first, specifically Germany. This was due to their sole use of gold to back currency rather than

both gold and silver. This caused a money shortage at the same time there was a huge

speculative bubble taking place.3 Naturally, 4 weeks ago when Oscar asked Felix if he wanted

1
Oscar Mayer Story. History of Oscar Mayer: Our Story | Oscar Mayer, Kraft Foods,
www.oscarmayer.com/our-story.
2
Dow, Sheila, and Jaime E. Noce, editors. Mayer, Oscar. Business Leader Profiles for Students,
vol. 1, Gale, Detroit, 2002, pp. 520523. Gale Virtual Reference Library
3
Schulman, Marc. Economic Panic of 1873. History Central, Historycentral,
www.historycentral.com/rec/EconomicPanic.html.
to move to Detroit with Oscar and the Schroll family, Felix was ecstatic. They had heard about

the beautiful city of Detroit through the exciting state of Michigan recruiting pamphlets.4 They

formulated a plan to move to Detroit and work at a butcher shop until they had enough to buy

their very own deli shop. Now, Felix was mere minutes from finally arriving at America.

Everything between first setting foot in New York to finally arriving at Detroit went by in

flash for Felix. He was so overwhelmed by emotion having travelled more than he ever had in all

19 years of his life. At such a young age the time was ripe to go out and start making money in

order to eventually start a family. Felix was excited for the opportunities that the United States

and the city of Detroit had to offer. Felix and Oscar began living together and settled into what

was known as Germantown in Detroit, located between the Jefferson and Gratiot Avenue

corridors.4 Many of the other German immigrants chose the city because the pull [was] stronger

than the push, meaning that people often chose to immigrate to Detroit, often due to its strong

economy, rather than being forced out of their home countries.5 Felix instantly fell in love with

everything he saw in Detroit and Germantown. He never felt away from his home country thanks

to the support of the German community, yet the experience was still new and brought Felix

much excitement. Felix and Oscar quickly found jobs at retail butcher shops, sometimes moving

from one to the other.2 Soon after getting acclimated with the city life, Felix was introduced to

Americas wonderful German singing festivals. Germans all over the United States participated

in singing festivals modeled after male German choir organizations.6 Felix quickly joined a

4
Germantown / Harmonie Club. Michigan Historical Markers,
www.michmarkers.com/startup.asp?startpage=S0473.htm.
5
Berkowski, Neala. Detroit's Culture and Growth Shaped by Immigrant Communities.The Michigan
Daily, University of Michigan, 1 Feb. 2015, www.michigandaily.com/news/detroits-immigration.
6
Bungert, H. "The Singing Festivals of German Americans, 18491914." American Music, vol. 34 no. 2,
2016, pp. 141-179. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/629957.
Detroit singing group called Gesang-Verein Harmonie.7 Among this group Felix found emotion

and charisma that seemed to erase the distinctions of age, class, or gender. It created a

community and kept German Americans grounded in their customs and culture. They made it

possible for immigrants to create a German American ethnicity and helped assert their statue in

United States society.6

The singing consumed all of Felixs time almost instantly. He would spend all the time he

could singing, harmonizing, yodeling, and vocalizing with his German brothers. When at home

or alone Felix would spontaneously break into song or yodel at the top of his lungs in the middle

of the night for no apparent reason. Oscar immediately took notice of this change in Felixs

behavior and confronted him about it. He told Felix that there could be no messing around if they

still wanted to open their own shop. Oscar saw Felixs singing hobby as too much of a distraction

to the point where he threatened to leave Felix and live on his own if he did not quit the

Gesang-Verein Harmonie. Felix told Oscar he would quit the group and for many days he did in

fact remain true to his word however, he could not find the strength to permanently leave what

he believed to be his one true passion. Instead, Felix began practicing with his singing group in

secret while Oscar was at work. Felix practiced early in morning, during lunch, on his breaks,

after work, and any other time he could find in between. However, Felix could not keep this act

up forever and soon enough all his sneaking and lying caught up to him when Oscar was walking

home from the market and he caught Felix singing with his group. Oscar was so furious at Felix

he couldnt even confront him. Oscar ran home tears streaming down his face. He couldnt

understand how Felix could go out and do whatever he pleased with no consideration for his

7
The Harmonie Club. Detroit the History and Future of the Motorcity,
detroit1701.org/Harmonie%20Club.html#.Wd2XHhOPKfQ.
friendship with Oscar. Feeling deceived and wounded, Oscar barged into his room and began

packing all his belongings. Felix had ruined what was once a beautiful and grand city. Oscar

found his way to Chicago where he continued to work in small butcher shops until he got a job

with Armour & Co. in 1877.2 Felix did not hear from him since he left suddenly and still

wonders why Oscar was in such a hurry to leave. He suspects it had something to do with his

singing obsession but he had no way to be certain since Oscar left without contacting Felix and

did not offer any way to contact him in the future. Felix decided to become a professional singer

but he quickly realized it wasnt going to work. He just didnt have what it took to become a star

at the time. So he gives up on his failure of a singing career and gets work where he can find it.

He spends a few more years at several different butcher shops but eventually made the transition

into the industrialized workforce like most people at this time.8 Felix was able to watch as the

city changed and grew around him. He got to witness Detroit as it became the automotive capital

of the world and experienced one of the largest population boosts in United States history. Then

one day in 1933 as Felix was strolling through the supermarket shopping for some sausages, he

caught a glimpse of a very familiar yet ancient name on the labeling of one of the products.9 He

could not believe that Oscar Mayer had not only succeeded in opening his own meats shop, but

thrived and was able to mass produce his delicious meat products. Felix never stopped being

amazed by all the opportunities this country had to offer.

8
Sugrue, Thomas J. Automobile in American Life and Society. From Motor City to Motor Metropolis:
How the Automobile Industry Reshaped Urban America,
www.autolife.umd.umich.edu/Race/R_Overview/R_Overview.htm.
9
Timeline: Oscar Mayer History in Madison Dates Back to 1919. Wisconsin State Journal , 4 Nov. 2015,
host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/timeline-oscar-mayer-history-in-madison-dates-back-to/article_4170204
9-9971-5530-87c3-392fafb2dce7.html.
 Works Cited

Berkowski, Neala. "Detroit's Culture and Growth Shaped by Immigrant Communities." The

Michigan Daily. University of Michigan, 1 Feb. 2015. Web.

Bungert, H. "The Singing Festivals of German Americans, 18491914." American Music,

vol. 34 no. 2, 2016, pp. 141-179. Project MUSE, muse.jhu.edu/article/629957.

"Germantown / Harmonie Club." Michigan Historical Markers. N.p., n.d. Web.

"HARDINESS, HONESTY, AND HONOR." Our German Story. N.p., Dec. 2007. Web.

"The Harmonie Club." Detroit the History and Future of the Motorcity. N.p., n.d. Web.

"Mayer, Oscar." Business Leader Profiles for Students. Ed. Sheila Dow and Jaime E. Noce.

Vol. 1. Detroit: Gale, 2002. 520-23. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 4 Oct.

2017.

"Oscar Mayer Story." History of Oscar Mayer: Our Story | Oscar Mayer. Kraft Foods,

n.d. Web.

Schulman, Marc. "Economic Panic of 1873." History Central. Historycentral, n.d. Web.

Sugrue, Thomas J. "Automobile in American Life and Society." From Motor City to Motor

Metropolis: How the Automobile Industry Reshaped Urban America. N.p., n.d. Web.

"Timeline of Detroit." Detroit Historical Society. Detroit Historical Society, n.d. Web.

"Timeline: Oscar Mayer History in Madison Dates Back to 1919." Wisconsin State

Journal. N.p., 04 Nov. 2015. Web.