On This Day In Alabama History: Cullman’s Founder Died

By Alabama NewsCenter Staff

December 3, 1895: John G. Cullmann, founder of the city of Cullman, Alabama, died on Dec. 3, 1895. Cullmann was a businessman and political activist who recruited thousands of settlers, including many German immigrants, to the area. The son of a geometer and schoolmaster in Frankweiler, Germany, Cullmann desired to come to America, but settled in London to await the outcome of the Civil War. By the end of 1865, Cullmann traveled to New York. He continued to Philadelphia and Cincinnati, and began thinking about establishing a colony for German expatriates. Cullmann wrote to Alabama Gov. Robert Patton, who put him in contact with the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which had just taken control of the South and North Railroad. In 1871, Cullmann made a deal with the railroad that gave him control over 349,000 acres. With 15 families from Cincinnati, Cullmann in 1873 established the area that is present-day Cullman. The city incorporated in 1877. When the city’s founder died from pneumonia, he was buried in the Cullman City Cemetery.

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