This page is still under constrcution, but here are a few notes:
The following information is based primarily on information from The Germans in Missouri, 1900 - 1918: Prohibition, Neutrality, and Assimilation by David W. Detjen Univeristy of Missouri Press Columbia, 1985.
German immigration to America was especially heavy in Missourri (sections along the Missouri river were called the "Rhineland"), Texas, Mississippi and later Wisconsin. In 1824, a Rhinelander named Gottfried Duden arrived in Missouri and settled near present-day Dutzow. Four years later, he published a best-seller back in Germany, entitled Report of a Journey to the Western States of North America, in which he described the fertile Missouri River valley and its likeness to southern Germany. This glowing (and exaggerated) account inspired thousands of Germans to emigrate to the "New Rhineland." Settlement communities were organized. Both Hermann and Washington were founded by these settlement societies, and are still well-known for their German culture and architecture. Here settlers could perpetuate their customs, handicrafts and hillside agriculture undisturbed by the tensions and strife that plagued the German states in the nineteenth century.
Also check out A Bief History of the Germans in Missouri for more information.