GERMANIA was Cleveland's first German newspaper as well as the city's first printed foreign-language paper in any tongue. Although it was preceded by Maximilian Heinrich Allart's Monatliche Journal of July 1844, the earlier effort must be disqualified for its handwritten format. Founded by EDWARD HESSENMUELLER, Germania came off the press at 24 Water St. in 1846. Like its owner, the weekly paper was Democratic in politics. By 1852 Germania had acquired a competitor in the Waechter am Erie (see WAECHTER UND ANZEIGER). It switched its allegiance to the WHIG PARTY at about that time, leaving the Democratic field to the newer paper. While some sources place Germania's expiration in 1853, it was evidently involved in a libel suit as late as 1855, when Ernest Scheuffler was mentioned as editor. A Cleveland Germania cited by historian CARL WITTKE as active on the side of Republicanism after the Civil War, however, was an entirely different publication.
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