Club History

ALL WOOL AND A YARD WIDE 90th/125th ANNIVERSARY PROJECT

In 2023 we celebrated the convergence of two anniversaries for the All Wool and a Yard Wide Democratic Club, The "Old Club". 125 years ago, in 1898, a small group of Democrats decided to continue their campaign club formed the previous year for the Louisville Mayoral campaign. They continued to grow, sometimes in fits and spurts, from then until the late 1920s when the group was barely active, if at all. Then in 1933, 90 years ago, the Old club was back, this time forming a corporation and establishing itself as a Schnitzelburg institution that has operated continuously to this day. The following is our ongoing history project and we are updating it as we learn about the folks who kept the tradition going.

WHERE DID THE NAME COME FROM?

The phrase “All Wool and a Yard Wide” was common around and shortly after the civil war. According to The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, the phrase “all wool and a yard wide” means

“Genuine, not fake; of excellent quality; also, honorable. For example, You can count on Ned-he's all wool and a yard wide. This metaphorical term alludes to a length of highly valued pure-wool cloth that measures exactly a yard (and not an inch less). [Late 1800s]”

In addition to numerous ads for the sale of bulk cloth material the phrase pops up in local papers as an idiom that was used often, if not always, to describe something or someone

political. Several examples are:

Indicating unquestioning loyalty

“[We assure the Democratic members of the Kentucky legislature that Senator Beck is a thoroughbred, a $!%& blooded Democrat; that he is an all-wool-and-a-yard-wide caucus man; that he is in every way worthy of trust, as a Bourbon — we mean no offense; that is our way of describing the unwavering and unyielding partisan Democrat.” 

Courier Journal, September 16, 1881

Indicating political rigidity

“He played the role of Kentucky Republican boss too arrogantly; he let no opportunity slip of impressing all who came in contact with him that he was a regular ‘all-wool-and-a-yard-wide’ boss of all things pertaining to Republicanism in Kentucky.” referring, critically to Republican pol John D. White, Courier Journal Feb 13, 1882

Indicating an intense battle

“The race in this district between Peele and ‘Little Bill” English for Congress was all wool and a yard wide. Peele only claims 87 majority”. Courier Journal regarding an Indiana house race, November 18, 1882.

And an old poem called “Old Saddlebags” by C. R. W. of Bear

Wallow, Kentucky (not making this up). It is published as a Democratic campaign song and the words are a bit difficult to follow. There is no indication of a tune, so you may use your imagination. The last verse goes like this:

“He has only been a Democrat a very few years,

And that spoon story, you know, would awaken our fears,

Give us a good one boys, all wool and a yard wide;

A man who will plot us over the perilous tide;

McDonald, for instance, – Old Saddlebags –

Who will steer us clear of Star-Routers and Radical snags.”

Courier Journal, June 29, 1884

Finally, in a joke

“Floor Walker (to salesman at hosiery counter) – You didn’t sell that lady?

Salesman – No. I showed her some stockings that I told her would fit her like a glove. She asked if they were all wool, and I said: ‘Yes: all wool and a yard wide.’ And she flounced off as though something had displeased her. For the life of me, I can’t guess what it was.”

Courier Journal May 12, 1895 from the Boston Transcript

SO HOW DID THEY START A DEMOCRATIC CLUB AND WHO WAS INVOLVED?

The campaign for Democrat Charles P. Weaver in 1897 included some highly motivated Germantown tradesmen and a twenty-one year old bookkeeper named Herman Schwieters, who began the “All Wool and a Yard Wide Weaver Club”. Several other “Weaver Clubs” were formed throughout the city as campaign organizations for Mr. Weaver. This particular group met at the Northeast corner of Shelby and Oak Streets at a place owned by Frank and Mace Goss. “Goss Brothers’ Saloon” or “Goss’ Garden”¹  was the meeting place, as reported September 2, 1897 for the organizational meeting of the All Wool and a Yard Wide Weaver Club. Four officers were elected, Henry Schuble, Herman Schwieters, William Ruddell, Joseph Young.²  The names have been selectively corrected here, and throughout, to account for mis-typed or phonetically spelled names in the newspapers. Caron’s City Directory, as well as Louisville Catholic Cemetery and other cemetery records were used as reference.

October 4, 1898 is the first newspaper reference to the All Wool and a Yard Wide Democratic Club. The article says that the club “will meet tonight for the purpose of electing officers” and that there was already a roll of 153 members.³  The article does not mention the officers, but the group was meeting at Shelby and Oak, the same location as the All Wool and a Yard Wide Weaver Club the previous year. The implication is that the “Weaver Club” simply changed into the “Democratic Club”, as they would have drawn from the same neighborhood for the common purpose of supporting a Democratic candidate or the Democratic Party. Several weeks later, “one of the most important meetings of the Democratic campaign” was held “under the auspices” of the All Wool and a Yard Wide Democratic Club⁴ .

The All Wool and a Yard Wide prefix was used in the campaigns for congressional candidate Oscar Turner, Jr in 1898 and gubernatorial candidate William Goebel in 1899. November 4, 1898 the Turner group held a big rally “in Germantown”, but the exact location and names of attendees was not published.⁵  The Goebel version was organized on October 28, 1899 with 123 members and elected John Velten as president, John M Goss as vice president, Frank T. Hoffman as secretary, George Eigelbach as treasurer and George Freeman as sergeant-at-arms.⁶ 

On January 19, 1899 the All Wool and a Yard Wide Democratic Club nominated George Eigelbach (see him from the AWYW Goebel Club, supra) to something called the “Bimetallic Club”.⁷  Governor Goebel was assassinated of course after only four days in office. After this, the club seems to have settled on being a Democratic Club, instead of a candidate club.

Ed Reis, a “former councilman” was president in 1902 and the club was prominent enough to host important political meetings and have them reported in the paper.⁸  By 1904 Herman Schwieters (see the AWYW Weaver Club in 1897) was the president. In April of that year the Courier reported that the Club had endorsed a New York Judge, Alton B. Parker, in the Democratic presidential primary. The article noted that the club was “one of the largest Democratic organizations in the city.”⁹  In October 1904 the club held an “enthusiastic meeting” at Seventh and Hill Streets. “The clubrooms were thronged with members and their friends, and the speeches were given the closest attention. . . . The club is one of the best-organized in the city and the members will assist in bringing out the full Democratic vote on election day.¹⁰ The reference to the clubhouse at Seventh and Hill Streets is odd, in that this is quite a few neighborhoods away from the Shelby Street corridor where many of them lived and worked.

The newspaper attention given to the club told a good deal of its early history. Then, in 1909 the references stop for a few years, only to resurface in 1913 in an article describing the reorganization of the "Old" club. Not much follows until the spring of 1933, when we find the earliest known typed meeting minutes for the club. The context of those clearly indicate that the group had been in existence before that, but without any explanation. The club voted to incorporate and to establish itself as a relevant player in local politics.

Throughout the years the All Wool club has been visited by the overwhelming majority, if not all of the elected Democratic politicians in Jefferson County. The organization formally incorporated in 1933 and began meeting in a building at 1269 South Shelby Street.¹¹  In fact, Governor Ruby Lafoon spoke at the club in November, 1934 to dedicate the new addition to club headquarters at that location.¹²  It should be noted that the building’s being on the East side of Shelby Street put the club in a neighborhood then known as “Schnitzelburg”.¹³  Although that address had at one time housed a business known as the”Germantown Brewery”¹⁴ .

HOW DID WE GET TO HICKORY AND ASH STREETS?

On Sunday, September 8 1946, the All Wool Club held a farewell “stag” party at its old headquarters and then moved into its current two story building at the corner of Hickory and Ash Streets.¹⁵  It had purchased the building from a Fred Ziegler. The first reference to our location at Hickory and Ash streets came in January, 1947, when Carl Russman was re-elected president of the club, listed at the new address.¹⁶ 

Over the decades since then, our club has been the centerpoint of Louisville democratic politics with meetings, rallies, marching bands, parties, and of course fish fries. With the decline of political patronage, changes in national politics, the social and technological upheaval ushered in with twenty-first century, local political clubs suffered. Most of them have fallen by the wayside and now that they are needed most, are lost. The fact that the All Wool Club hung on by a single thread these past twenty years is a testament to the quality of the cloth its made of. But survival is the key, and that which failed to destroy us has only made us stronger. It has left us with some work to do, and we now seek your help

The All Wool and a Yard Wide Democratic Club persists because its members understand that Democracy is both precious and under attack. We live during an era where our

neighbors have been pitted against us. We continue because we believe that American Democracy is worth fighting for. Our mission is not complete and are seeking the help of any

person interested in joining us in the continuing fight for our fragile Constitutional Democracy.

We will celebrate 125 years since the original founding of the group “All Wool and a Yard Wide Democratic Club” and 90 years of continuous Schnitzelburg operation this summer of 2023. Please come visit us on the first Thursday of any month at 7:00.

DEMOCRACY IS HARD

BUT WORTH IT!

¹ The building still stands today at 1155 S. Shelby Street. Address references before 1905 will

show 1855 as the number, as the city compressed its North-South numbers that year.

² Louisville Courier-Journal, September 2, 1897

³ Louisville Courier-Journal, October 4, 1898

⁴  Louisville Courier-Journal, October 21, 1898

⁵  Louisville Courier-Journal, November 4, 1898

⁶  Louisville Courier-Journal, October 28, 1899

⁷  Louisville Courier-Journal, January 19, 1899

⁸  Louisville Courier-Journal, October 31, 1902

⁹  Louisville Courier-Journal, April 13, 1904

¹⁰  Louisville Courier-Journal, October 20, 1904

¹¹  Caron’s Louisville City Directory, various years, ex. 1937

¹²  Louisville Courier-Journal, November 1, 1934

¹³  A proverbial bullet was dodged, as the name “Schnitzelburg” was originally used interchangeably with

“blood sausage town”. Louisville Courier-Journal, August 12 and August 13, 1907.

¹⁴  Caron’s Louisville City Directory, 1910

¹⁵  Louisville Courier-Journal, September 8, 1946

¹⁶  Louisville Courier-Journal, January 11, 1947