Hermann, MO (HEM)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$328,396

Station Ridership

FY 2011

15,255

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The station at Hermann consists of a platform with a small partially enclosed wooden shelter, constructed by the city after the return of daily service on September 18, 1991.

Beginning with an announcement on March 3, 2010, the city began planning to build a new brick and glass station building which would include seating space for 60. The city is currently in the process of seeking funding for the station. Before they begin to build, agreements with Union Pacific and Amtrak must also be in place. Plans potentially include outdoor benches and paved paths from parking to the station. The design will feature a stained concrete floor, metal roof and brick exterior, with a tower as the building’s focal point at one end of the platform. A portion of the new building would be reserved for a steamboat and railroad transportation museum display, to include artifacts from the area. This new facility will be built in the footprint of the current station. A train caboose owned by the Masonic Lodge will have to be relocated to accommodate the new structure.

So far, it is thought that funding for the design of new 1,400-square foot station may be obtained through the Missouri Department of Transportation as well as private sources.

The German Settlement Society of Philadelphia, in 1837, sent school teachers George Bayer and Edward Hermann to Missouri as their agent to find and purchase 11,000 acres for a town. Concerned at the rapid assimilation of their countrymen into American society, the German Settlement Society sought to create an ideal town which would be “German in every particular.” The reality of the steep and rocky terrain dealt a blow to high expectations when the first 17 settlers arrived by barge. However, determined settlers took advantage of this vertical real estate by planting vineyards on the rocky slopes which were already tangled with wild grapes. A decade later, steamboats from St. Louis brought visitors to Hermann’s first Weinfest.

The city is named for the German national hero, Hermann, a Roman-trained military leader who is deemed responsible for the rout of three Roman legions at the battle of Teutoburger Forest in 9 A.D.

By the turn of the 20th century, Hermann’s vintners were immensely successful. The Stone Hill Winery of Hermann, which is still in operation today, had grown to become the second largest winery in the country and was winning gold medals at World’s Fair competition around the globe. Before the Volstead Act of 1919 shut them down, the towns numerous vintners were producing three million gallons of wine a year, and the city was a rollicking river port with a tavern on every corner.

The anti-German sentiment of two World Wars and Prohibition all but shut the town down. However, it also made for a significant preservation in the city, which now has 110 buildings on the National Register of Historic Places today. In the 1960s, the local wineries began to make a comeback, and in 1983 acquired the distinction of becoming the federally-designated Hermann American Viticultural Area (AVA). The seven wineries in the AVA annually produce one-third of Missouri’s wine.

With the opening of California, the westward-bound Pacific Railroad was chartered in St. Louis in 1849. Its first passenger train arrived in Hermann on August 6, 1855, but it was another ten years before the Pacific was the first to arrive at Kansas City, due to the interruption of the Civil War. In 1872, the Pacific Railroad was reorganized as the Missouri Pacific, often called the Mo-Pac, and their St. Louis to Kansas City line was the only route of theirs to be included in Amtrak’s original passenger operations on May, 1971. Until 1991, Hermann had no regular stops aside from some special trains run out at Maifest and Oktoberfest.

Today’s station is close to the downtown of a city that positions itself to take advantage of short-distance holiday-makers from Kansas City and St. Louis. Hermann has German festivals most weekends during the warmer seasons and throughout the year, and provides much to see with several German Heritage museums and the 250-mile Katy trail running across the river from the city. Indeed, their director of tourism has been instrumental in the building of their new station.

The Missouri River Runner is financed primarily through funds made available by the Missouri Department of Transportation. Amtrak does not provide ticketing or baggage services at the Hermann station, which is served by four daily trains.