Do you love the outdoors and wish you could enjoy hiking, bicycling, zip lining, boating, water skiing, and more right outside your door? Perhaps you enjoy a slower pace filled with riverfront walks and unbeatable views. Are you a “foodie” looking for award winning wineries and restaurants steps from your home? Do you crave rich culture and wish you could be surrounded by historic buildings, spend your day exploring local art galleries and your evenings viewing theatre or listening to live music?

If you answered “yes” to any of these (or maybe all of these!), Hermann is the perfect home for you!

Check out the following to discover more:

Biking

The Katy Trail

Walking Tours

Golf

Zipline Tours

Showboat Theatre

Amphitheater

Hermann Arts Council

Live Music

Restaurants

Shops & Galleries

Spa Services

Museums

Festivals

 

The Hermann area is a wonderful place for families. Our community offers a safe living environment, excellent schools (both public school and private school), access to quality healthcare (including a hospital) and endless family friendly activities, all with an affordable cost of living!

Check out the following to discover more:

Schools

Parks

Library

Healthcare

Churches

Adventures

Calendar of Events

The Hermann area is the perfect place to launch your new or locate your existing business. The entrepreneurial culture found in the community provides the ideal environment to nurture innovation and encourage success. Whether you are interested in serving the strong local market, tapping into the robust local tourism industry or take advantage of the business climate, work ethic and skill of the area workforce, proximity to major markets and access to multi-mode transportation (highway, rail, river and airport), Hermann is the place for you.

Did we mention the incredible quality of life you and your employees will enjoy in Hermann?

Local Support Team

The Hermann Regional Economic Development Corporation (HREDC) is a nonprofit organization launched in 2013 by a coalition of local businesses, individuals, organizations and governments dedicated to securing a prosperous future for the Hermann region. HREDC is led by an all-volunteer Board of Directors and welcomes any interested individual, business or organization to support this important effort!

Mission

To secure a prosperous future for the greater Hermann area and surrounding communities by facilitating collaborative efforts to strengthen our economic base, build upon our quality of place and develop the next generation of businesses and residents.

Goals

• To retain, attract and develop talent
• To support new and existing business development
• To encourage the preparation of real estate, effective use of existing space and development of key infrastructure

To learn more, contact:

Hermann Regional Economic Development Corporation

Phone:

E-mail: info@hred.org

It is commonly believed that the Hermann area’s resemblance to the Rhine Valley prompted scouts from the German Settlement Society of Philadelphia to choose the site for a colony on the American frontier.

Dismayed at how quickly their countrymen were being assimilated into American society, the Philadelphia Germans dreamed of building a new city in the “Far West” that could and would be “German in every particular.”

In 1837 school teacher George Bayer, who was appointed to serve as the society’s agent, traveled to Missouri and purchased 11,000 acres of the steepest, most rugged terrain to be found anywhere on the Missouri River. It was a beautiful, if highly impractical, site for a town.

Meanwhile, back in Philadelphia city planners were mapping out a grand new city, undeterred by their total ignorance of the actual terrain. On paper, Hermann was flat, with spacious market squares and sweeping boulevards. Thinking big, they made their city’s main street 10 feet wider than Philadelphia’s.

When the first 17 settlers stepped off the last steamboat of the season into what one writer described as “a howling wilderness,” their starry-eyed idealism died on the spot. Some were furious to discover that the Hermann lots they had purchased back in Philadelphia were what today’s residents jokingly refer to as “vertical acreage.” The fact that the town survived at all is a testament to German determination and hard work.

Making the best of a bad situation, the Germans took their cue from Mother Nature and planted vineyards on the rocky hillsides, where wild grapevines grew with tangled abandon. A decade later, steamboats brought St. Louis visitors to Hermann’s first Weinfest, where they enjoyed more than their share of sweet Catawba wine and marveled at the grapevine-covered hills.

By the turn of the century, Hermann’s winemakers had become wildly successful. Stone Hill Winery had grown to be the second largest winery in the country and was winning gold medals at World’s Fair competitions around the globe. The town’s numerous vintners were producing an incredible three million gallons of wine a year.

Today Hermann’s Old-World charm attracts residents and visitors alike. Much of downtown is a historic district where brick homes from the 1800s hug the sidewalk in the traditional German style. More than 150 buildings are on the National Register of Historic Places.

Idle for nearly 50 years after Prohibition, Hermann’s wineries are once again the main tourist attraction. The seven wineries in and around Hermann account for more than a third of the state’s total production.

Looking to the future, Hermann is looking to build upon the quality of place enjoyed by current resident and past generations and further strengthen their local economy. The region draws residents looking for a living environment that offers unmatched scenic beauty, abundant outdoor recreation opportunities, rich culture, excellent schools and much, much more all at a price that is surprisingly affordable (as locals call it, “It is the good life, within reach!”). The region is also a magnet for entrepreneurs attracted by the community’s business climate, economic assets and supportive environment that comes with a long history of an entrepreneurial culture. To continue to support entrepreneurial growth, the local economic development organization is currently developing a small business incubator, which they intend to launch in 2015.

Hermann is a welcoming community and we hope you consider becoming a part of our story!