Dutchirican: The Growing Puerto Rican Presence in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country

Although Pennsylvania is the state with the fourth-largest population of Puerto Ricans, their history, particularly outside of Philadelphia, has received little attention. Puerto Ricans began to settle in the Pennsylvania Dutch Country due in part to farmers' demands for labor in the 1940s and 1950s. Puerto Ricans moved to the area for reasons of their own, seeing the region as a place to pursue their economic progress and religious expression. Since the 1980s, the growth of the community has been rapid, chiefly as Puerto Ricans have moved away from expensive housing in the New York metropolitan area.