The purpose of the German-American Club, Gesangverein, Inc. (GAC) is to perpetuate German culture and German style of sociability, to promote the art of music through group singing of German songs, and to preserve the German heritage in Louisville.

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The German-American Club Gesangverein, Inc. was founded in 1878 by Louis Vormbrock at Beck’s Hall on Jefferson Street. The fifteen men who met there called themselves the Sozialer Männerchor. They hired Otto Schuler as their first music director and gave their first concert in the gardens of Beck’s Hall in June 1879.

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In 1884 a Constitution was established and a society flag was designed. Professor Gustav Clausnitzer became music director, a position he held for over two decades. In 1914 the Club hosted the national festival of the North American Singers Union, the largest collection of singers ever to visit Louisville.