The first Swedish immigrants to the United States arrived in 1638, settling in and around the area of what is now Wilmington, Delaware, and parts of Pennsylvania. At that time, Sweden was a formidable imperial force apparently with the resources to support colonial settlement and trade. The early colonies struggled, however, because they were expensive and few settlers could be induced to emigrate. Th e Swedish colonies were captured by the Dutch in 1655, transferred to England when the English took over the Dutch North American colonies in 1660, and finally became part of William Penn’s new colony of Pennsylvania...

Very few Swedes came to Michigan before the Civil War. According to U.S. Census, there were only sixteen in 1850 and fewer than three hundred by 1860. Many of the earliest Swedish immigrants sought better farming land further west, or they settled in cities such as Chicago and Minneapolis where there were already established ethnic communities. There were very few Swedes in Detroit until the early twentieth century, however. When Swedes began to arrive in Michigan in greater numbers after 1860, they gravitated to the western part of the state near Lake Michigan. Along the coast, there were concentrations of...

In the late nineteenth century, the Upper Peninsula attracted large numbers of Swedish immigrants who settled in many communities throughout the region. They felt comfortable in an environment that reminded them of their homeland and offered similar kinds of economic opportunities. At a time of rapid economic growth, Swedish migrants were crucial in the development of the resources of Upper Michigan. The majority worked in mining, lumbering, fishing, processing and shipping, and railroad construction, while others provided food, housing, and other commercial, cultural, and social services. Some sought to farm this cold land, and many combined these activities in diverse...

Although many early Swedish immigrants preferred rural to urban life, cities were home to large ethnic communities and offered job opportunities for men in the skilled crafts industry and in domestic service for women. In the Midwest, Chicago became the most important center of Swedish settlement. With 10 percent of the Swedish American population between the years of 1890 and 1930, it was the second largest Swedish city in the world in 1900. Chicago had 12,930 Swedes in 1880 and 43,432 in 1890; Minneapolis had 3,188 Swedes in 1880 and 19,398 in 1890. In Michigan as in other areas, the...