America’s Little Sweden
Rockford Becomes a Major Destination
Swedish Beginnings
• Most Swedes highly literate • ~1.3M Swedes emigrate between 18401930 • 1/3 of nation • 1840S-1850S: Mostly landowning society leaving in small groups and searching for economic opportunity. Few for religious reasons.
Mass Emigration
• After American Civil War • 1867-8 failure of crops in Sweden • Sweden was quite rural and under developed • Better economic opportunities • Available land after 1862 Homestead Act • Avoidance to military service • Opposition to the Lutheran Church
“Amerika feber och sjukan”
• Shipping advertising • American railway company advertisers, such as Illinois Central • “America Letters” and ads for land published in Swedish newspapers • Pop boom in early 19th Century • Inheritance only to 1st born son • WWI ends migration
Småland
Varmland
Västergötland
Arrival in Rockford
• 30 Swedes in 1852 from parish of Södra Ving, near Gothenburg, Småland, island of Öland • Cholera epidemic encourages bypassing of Chicago • End of railway line at Rockford • “Kohagen” • Cheap whiskey- 25¢/gal
Swedish Population Growth
1852 1872 1885 1900 30 individuals 3,500 *(No 2nd gen. stats) 6,000 * 6,700 ^(12,000 w/2nd gen) Tot. pop 31,000 10,800 (Sweden born) Tot pop 85,000
1930
Ethnic Churches
• Scandinavian Evangelical Lutheran Church • 1875- Swedish Mission Covenant • 1880-Temple Baptist • 1890s- Evangelical Free Church • Other Lutheran Churches
Furniture Cooperatives
• Forest City Company in the early 1870s
– Andrew Johnson – 15 people
• Union Furniture Company
– John Erlander
P.A. Peterson
• By death at age 80, has been president of 40 Rockford companies and owned 5 • Ate lunch w/his employees • At death, donated large amt of $ to Swedish hospital and the temperance movement
John Nelson
• Knitting machine for seamless hosiery • “Sock monkey”
David and Oscar Sundstrand
• • • • 10 key adding machine 1910-Sundstrand Tool Company 1925- 800 employees Oscar had 150 patents at the time of his death
Social Activism
• Numerous temperance societies from 1890-1922 • Rockford was a dry city from 1908-1920 (except 1910-1912) + Prohibition • Socialists
– After the panic of 1893, workers formed cooperatives to fight against large scale entrepreneurs, low wages, and poor working conditions
Social Clubs
• Many for women and children (secular Sunday school) • Theatre • Folkets Haus • Dances • Music entertainment and singing societies (mostly male)
Provincial Societies
• • • • • • • Unheard of in Sweden! Mostly Post WWI (Roots?) Småland Society Ölandsforëningen Västergötland Östergötland Varmland
Socialism
• In WWI, Rockford socialists became nationally known for their stand against militarism and 137 Rockford men refused to sign up for military service (draft) • Remember that Camp Grant was here at the same time!
Socialist Mayors
• Herman Hallstrom
– 1921-1933 – Backed by the Socialist Party and Good Templars
• C. Henry Bloom
– 1933-1953 – “Orthodox” socialist – Re-elected 8 times – Born in Rockford to Swedish parents
Sources for images
• • • • • • • http://hem.passagen.se/tyom/smaland.gif http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/images/s/se-smala.gif http://www.swedenhomerentals.se/Landskap/M19.jpg http://www.allstates-flag.com/fotw/images/s/se-vgt.gif http://www.eurotourism.com/SE/img/varmland.gif http://www.sna.se/webbatlas/lan/bilder/varmland.gif http://www.sockmonkeylady.com/homepagephoto.jpg