Minnesota Historical Society | Page 27

Swedish immigrants outside their cabin in Minnesota, ca. 1880.

Swedish immigrants outside their cabin in Minnesota, ca. 1880. rural Swedish immigrants often lived in one- or two-room log cabins.

Swedish immigrant’s trunk

Wooden trunk made in southern Sweden in 1776 and brought to St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1882.

How Swedes Have Shaped the State

Swedish Immigration to Minnesota

Over a quarter of a million Swedes came to Minnesota between 1850 and 1930, drawn primarily by economic opportunities not available to them at home. Once Swedish immigrant settlements were established in the state, they acted as magnets, creating migration chains that drew others. Attracted at first to rural areas by agricultural opportunities, Swedes eventually chose to move to cities as well. In the twenty-first century, Minnesota’s Swedish Americans continue to honor their ethnic roots through family traditions, public festivities, and education.