„D’r övverschte Willms“

Restaurant of the widow Hubert Willms

A picture postcard from 1896 shows that the Hubert Willms restaurant had already existed since the 19th century. The owner at the time was Hubert Willms (1826-1897). After his death, his widow Elisabeth née Quast (1830-1911) continued to run the pub. Elisabeth Willms, married name Limburg (1867-1936) then took over the business.

The pub was located on Diepenlinchener Straße, slightly below the pub of Peter Willms, the nephew of Hubert Willms. The vernacular distinguished between the two pubs according to their location: the "upper Willms" and the "lower Willms" - in dialect "övverschte" and "öngerschte" Willms.

A common nickname arose from an anecdote: in the "övverschte" Willms, the landlord read the world news from the newspaper to his guests. One day, a news item concerned the Italian region of Piedmont, which the landlord pronounced as "Pimmong". This led to general hilarity. As a result, the pub was nicknamed "övverschte Pimmong", while Peter Willms' pub was given the name "öngerschte Pimmong".

On April 9, 1882, a number of citizens of the community who were very interested in house music decided to found the "Euphonia" music association.

The minutes of the founding and meetings in the Willms restaurant were destroyed by a fire in 1902, meaning that it is unfortunately not possible to provide a complete account of the development up to 1902
. As far as can be ascertained, the founders of the association included: Anton Willms, Peter Schür, Jakob Mohr, Wilhelm Johag, Peter Willms, Matthias Hanf, Hubert Mohr, Franz Josef Scholl, Jakob Willms, Ludwig Karl, Johann Wildt, Josef Schür, Peter Mohr and the Moonen brothers. The purpose and aim of the association was to cultivate instrumental music for the entertainment of its members and to organize public concerts. The club chronicle names the musician Erdmann from Eilendorf as the first conductor.

For decades, F. J. Scholl influenced the fortunes of the association as conductor in the best sense of the word. Three qualities helped him to overcome all difficulties: a strong sense of order, discipline and his great musical understanding.

At the outbreak of war in 1914, the "Euphonia" accompanied the
first Mausbach soldiers to Stolberg to the sound of their instruments. During the war, the big club drum went to Russia with the Landwehr Regiment 28. Of the seven members who went to war, Josef
Heidbü chel, Wilhelm Schiffer, Wilhelm Johag and the Lauscher brothers died for their homeland and fatherland.