Norwegians in New York

Abstract

by KNIGHT HOOVER 9 Norwegians in New York The arrival of the ship "Restoration" in 1825 is considered the beginning of Norwegian group migration to America. Of the fifty-two persons aboard, however, only the skipper is reported to have remained in New York City. This trend continued for more than a half century, during which the largest percentage of Norwegians who immigrated to New York continued on - via the Erie Canal and the Great Lakes - to the midwestern section of the United States.1 Immigration after 1825, however, was for a time a mere trickle. It was not until 1836 that Norwegians came to this country in substantial numbers. The fjord-to-prairie migration continued. Generally, the Norwegians who remained in New York City did not as a rule do so of their own volition. Some of them found themselves cheated of funds that were intended for the trek westward, and the metropolis soon earned the reputation of being "a genuine home for all arch pickpockets and swindlers." 2 Events in Norway had an enormous impact on emigration. In 1880, a depression ravaged the country, but of greater significance for Norwegian settlement in New York was the 1 Theodore C. Biegen, ed., Land oj Their Choice , 43 (Minneapolis, 1955); Biegen, Norwegian Migration to America, 1826-1860 , 361 (Northfield, Minnesota , 1931) . Biegen, Norwegian Migration to America , 1826-1860, 205. Biegen indicates that these swindlers were not Americans but Norwegians. 221 Knight Hoover transition from sail to steam that spiraled Norway into a maritime crisis. Many sailors deserted their ships and remained in the great eastern American port. They were later followed by men in the building trades and ship workers from the coastal towns of Norway. Since their youth, these people had also been trained to make a living in a sea environment. Therefore, as the agricultural crisis in the old country resulted in the settlement of the American West, the maritime crisis in Norway was perhaps the greatest single factor leading to the settlement of Norwegians in New York and later in Brooklyn. It was during the period from about 1850 to 1890 that the first "colony" grew up in Manhattan, in the section now bounded by Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, and the East River. It was in this area that Norwegian immigrants lived, worked, and built their churches.8 During this same span of years, another change in the New York environment was occurring. Manhattan's waterfront, lined with shipping and dry docks since the beginning of the century, provided plenty of work for Norwegian carpenters, shipbuilders, sailmakers, and dock and harbor workers. As the population of New York increased and technology advanced , the East River was spanned by bridge and ferry. Industries seeking more space began to move. Thus Brooklyn gradually replaced Manhattan as the shipbuilding, ship-repairing , and docking center. This increasing waterfront business provided even more work for the Norwegians.4 In the 1870's, the Norwegian population in New York be8 The important role of the sea in the early New York Norwegian settlement is described by other authors. See A. N. Rygg, Norwegians in New York , 18251925 , 22 (Brooklyn, 1941); Christen T. Jonassen, "The Norwegians in Bay Ridge: A Sociological Study of an Ethnic Group," 242, 244-245, an unpublished doctoral dissertation submitted at New York University, 1947; Christen T. Jonassen, "Cultural Variables in the Ecology of an Ethnic Group," in American Sociological Review , 14: 34 (February, 1949) ; Biegen, Norwegian Migration to America , 1825-1860 , 331; Ralph Foster Weld, Brooklyn Is America , 194 (New York, 1950) . •Jonassen, Cultural Variables m the Ecology of an Ethnic Group, 34. J?or a discussion of technological and occupational evolvement through the history of New York City, see Raymond Vernon, Metropolis 1985y 37 ff. (New York, 1960) . 222 NORWEGIANS IN NEW YORK gan to migrate across the East River and to purchase houses in the relatively sparsely settled areas of Old South Brooklyn and Greenpoint.5 The former was located near the shipping activity in Red Hook, and the latter, farther north, was also the base of some maritime occupations. Together these areas provided sites for beautiful dwellings on tree-shaded streets. The men could either walk...