The Rural Midwest Since World War II

10. Internal Alternate: The Midwestern Amish since 1945

Ahandwritten sign in a shop window in downtown Chicago boasts “Amish Chickens,” suggesting timeless family comfort amid the urban chaos. The explosion of Amish products such as Amish furniture , Amish cheese, Amish friendship bread, and Amish bacon creates the illusion of a brand identity in urban and suburban marketplaces. The descriptive term “Amish” conjures notions of authentic products and experiences. Far from this quaint presentation, however, the Old Order Amish are a highly successful collection of communities in the midwestern region of the United States. In contrast to the homegrown aura of quaint and simple lives, they demonstrate an alternative mode of rural life that makes selective use of technology while retaining small and intensive religious communities. They created this alternate culture in the Midwest during the second half of the twentieth century. In the early twenty-first century, they are visually, socially, and linguistically distinctive while also being fully integrated into the region and significant to the regional economy.1 Amish settlements have formed in almost every state and every Canadian province from the eighteenth century to the present. In 2013, settlements existed in 11 of the 12 states under study in this volume , the exception being North Dakota.2 These 11 states hosted about 63 percent of the total Amish population in North America (see table 10.1). Amish migrants followed the movement of the frontier westTEN —Internal Alternate The Midwestern Amish since 1945 Steven D. Reschly Internal Alternate 277 ward during the nineteenth century, albeit within a limited range of latitudes , from Pennsylvania into Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska. The first Amish settlers entered Ohio in 1808; Holmes County in east central Ohio houses the oldest and largest Amish community in the Midwest. Population growth, migration, and diversity are three central themes in Amish history. The growth rate of the Amish population is remarkable. In 1900, there were only about 5,000 Amish people in the United States and Canada. A century later, the estimated figure was 198,000, and in 2013, nearly 280,000.3 The Amish birthrate is higher than the birthrate in the general population, although within the Amish, farm families tend to have more children than Amish families in which the household head works for wages. The birthrate is lower, as well, when Amish women operate businesses. Examples of Amish families who have lower birthrates include the Amish of eastern Illinois, many of whom work in woodworking and cabinet factories, and the Amish of northern Indiana, the “lunch pail Amish,” who work in the mobile home and recreational vehicle manufacturing industries.4 Amish population growth, land prices, and family migration all contribute to patterns of Amish settlement in the Midwest. In 2013, there were 469 Amish communities located in 30 states and the Canadian province of Ontario, all resulting from a few individuals and families who decided to move and then invited others to join them. The pace of founding new settlements, with initial growth through chain migration as extended family members and acquaintances from home communities join new settlements, has increased dramatically, particularly in the upper Midwest , since 1990. The Amish do not colonize, as opposed to historic communitarian societies such as the Hutterites, but migrate in a trial-and-error fashion. Amish individuals and families have settled in almost every U.S. state and Canadian province as well as Honduras, Belize, and Paraguay. Traditionally , as reflected in collected Amish writings and oral tradition, Amish “scouts” have always sought suitable land for purchase and settlement. This is intentional exploration, not recreational travel. Every community has its own origin story. The first settlers in Indiana, for example, resulted from an 1840 scouting trip undertaken by four men from Somerset County, Pennsylvania . Preacher Joseph Miller, Daniel Miller, John Smyly, and John Shrock traveled the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to explore land in Illinois and Iowa before deciding, instead, on Elkhart County, Indiana.5 The tradition of scouting for land continues. In summer 2010, a vanload of Amish land scouts from Prattsburg, New York, visited Alaska but failed to find suitable land. Another group, from communities in both Illinois and Missouri, traveled to Mexico on a similar mission.6 Despite consisting 278 Steven D. Reschly Table 10.1—Amish Population by State and Province, 2010 R anked by estimated population State/Province # of Settlements # of Church Districts Est. Population Ohio 55 485 65,475 Pennsylvania 52 441 65,270 Indiana 23 348...