Finnish Log Houses in the Upper Middle West: 1890-1920

Abstract

Conceptions about house types and construction techniques were part of the cultural baggage of Finnish immigrants who crossed the Atlantic in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Their ideas and practices were either retained, modified or abandoned in the American setting. This study examines the techniques employed and the houses erected by Finnish immigrants who settled the sparsely populated Lake Superior region. The houses manifest aspects of folk architecture and elements of industrial culture which the immigrants had been exposed to and accepted in Finland prior to emigration. The transplanted north European log construction complex was short-lived as it terminated with the expiration of the Finnish foreign-born population.