When a hall was built on the southeast corner of Tenth and New York Streets. There were 48 members, 44 of whom enlisted in the U.S. Army when Lincoln called for volunteers. The club disbanded and another club was organized in 1867. This group built a hall on the corner of Ninth (called Warren at the time)and Rhode Island Streets.

In Germany, clubs were known as Vereins, and Turners were people of strong intellectual and physical stature. Turner clubs were formed to give physical training to the young men of Germany and to provide intellectual and political discourse. Some fifty thousand of these young Germans fled to the United States from Germany in 1848 and the next year or two, due to a failed attempt at forming a representative government. Consequently Turnverein societies spread to many cities in the U.S., including the frontier town of Lawrence.

Members pictured include: Fred Brechthelsbauer, Fred Wieman, Casper Urich, Fred Isemann, John Walruff, W.A. Walter, Alfred Deichmann, Theodore Heinsen, Jacob Wiedemann, Henry Martin, Sr., Julius Fischer, Leo Steinberg, Jacob Oesch, Phillip Preisach, Sr., Charles Sutorious, Wiegand Yeager, Charles Achning, Sr., Rudolph Sommers, Jacob Haag, August Walruff, Herman Varnholt, F. Gnefkow, August Tiermeier, Fred Broeker, R.J. Speitz, Fred Pulvermiller, Carl Fischer, William Freienmuth, Justus Assmann, F. W. Barteldes, Charles J. Achning, Jr., John Buch, Sr., Phillip Preisach, Jr., and Jacob Lander.
For further records of this club, see history of the Turnverein by Henry Albach in the Kansas Collection at Spencer Research Library.