Community Invited to Sister Cities Anniversary Celebration, Historical Marker Dedication at Downtown Train Depot Site on Sept. 27
The City of Arlington will celebrate the 72nd anniversary of its Sister City partnership with Bad Königshofen, Germany, this Wednesday with a recommitment signing ceremony and the dedication of a new state historical marker in Downtown.
The Arlington community is invited to the event, set from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Sept. 27 at the historic train depot site just north of the George W. Hawkes Downtown Library at 100 S. Center St. Bürgermeister Thomas Helbling and a delegation from Bad Königshofen will attend the event, which also includes city leaders, members of the Sister Cities of Arlington, Texas, and special guests former City Council member Doland Maner and Victor Vandergriff and family, among others.
Doland Maner, now 101, attended the send-off ceremony at the Texas & Pacific railroad depot on Feb. 1, 1952. At Wednesday’s public event, the Texas Historical Commission will unveil a state historical marker at the site of the former depot.
The friendship between The American Dream City and the small northern Bavarian town in West Germany started in 1951 when German town manager Kurt Zühlke visited Arlington during a study tour of the United States. Local historians say the town manager made an unscheduled stop in the city because Irene von Falkenried, a German tour participant, had a pen pal in Arlington, Theda Howell. Through this pen pal relationship, the town manager had an opportunity to meet and visit with then Arlington Mayor Tom Vandergriff.
During their meeting, the visiting town manager told Vandergriff about the difficulties his town was facing because of its location at the border between West and East Germany. Hundreds of people from the communist east had overwhelmed his small German town, and there was a shortage of food and clothing.
Moved by the plight of the town, Mayor Vandergriff and the Arlington Chamber of Commerce decided to “adopt” Königshofen and coordinated a community drive to collect food, clothing and gifts. In 1952, the first of four railroad boxcar shipments left Arlington. Click here to read more about the history of the friendship.
History, Sister City
News, Community