Norwegians on the Prairie

Ethnicity and the Development of the Country Town

Odd S. Lovoll

Publication Year: 2007

Against the broad backdrop of the expanding western frontier, noted Norwegian American scholar Odd S. Lovoll explores the country town through the lens of ethnicity in this pioneering study. Benson, Madison, and Starbuck, all located on the western Minnesota prairie, were settled primarily by Norwegians and served as urban centers—railroad hubs, destinations for trade, and social nexuses—for the farming communities that surround them. Lovoll’s meticulous research into census data, careful reading of local newspapers, and extensive interviews with the descendants of Norwegian immigrants reveals strong ties to homeland that are visible today in each town’s social, political, and religious character.

Published by: Minnesota Historical Society Press

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In 1988 Odd S. Lovoll completed and the Norwegian-American Historical Association published a groundbreaking study of Norwegian- Americans in the context of metropolitan...

Preface

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pp. xiii-xvii

In undertaking a study of three small towns in west-central Minnesota— Benson in Swift County, Starbuck in Pope County, and Madison in Lac qui Parle County—I hoped to gain insight specifically into...

One: The Western Expansion

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pp. 3-36

Settlement on the American frontier illuminates immigration’s centrality in the history of American society. By 1800, as settlers streamed into the region, the northern frontier had crossed into Illinois, which gained statehood in 1818; then decade by decade it moved...

Two: The Village of Benson

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pp. 37-76

The village of Benson—the county seat from its founding in 1870—served as a central place for Swift County. Townspeople, villagers, and farmers throughout the county had business to conduct in the courthouse. In commerce and farm trade Benson interacted most...

Three: Norwegian Small-Town Apotheosis

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pp. 77-126

The 1880s were central years in the maturing of the village of Benson; in that decade it secured its firm reputation as a “Norwegian” urban place. Even so, an old-stock elite of bankers and professional people reinforced a traditional view of the country town as a Yankee domain...

Four: Towns of a Common Heritage

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pp. 127-174

Starbuck in Pope County and Madison in Lac qui Parle County in this chapter enter more systematically and with greater attention to empirical knowledge into an analysis of “Norwegian” country...

Five: In the American Matrix

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pp. 175-226

Benson became a city in 1908, adopting a city charter on February 25 under the Minnesota municipal home rule statute; the charter made Benson almost entirely self-governing and gave the office of mayor a predominant...

Six: The Persistence of Ethnicity

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pp. 227-270

The persistence of a separate Norwegian American community may have been in some question in the postwar years. Ultimately, a structural ethnicity and ethnic boundaries dissipated and a sense of a national Norwegian American community weakened...

Notes

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pp. 271-300

Index

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pp. 301-321

E-ISBN-13: 9780873518031
E-ISBN-10: 0873518039
Print-ISBN-13: 9780873516037
Print-ISBN-10: 0873516036

Page Count: 304
Illustrations: 30 b&w photos, 18 tables, 9 maps, 1 chart
Publication Year: 2007

Edition: 1