A Peculiar People: Iowa's Old Order Amish

CHAPTER TEN. The Plain People in the Midwest

C HAP T E R TEN The Plain People in the Midwest Throughout the Midwest, the Old Order Amish are becoming incH ~asml51y visible. Many eastern Amish families faced with soaring land prices, particularly in Pennsylvania, are looking to areas like Missouri, southern Iowa, and southern Minnesota where land is available and reasonably priced. A number of Amish families have also moved out of the United States, resettling in Central and South America as well as Canada. Conservative Mennonite church groups have also initiated new settlements in Missouri and these have been expanding rapidly since 1970. Perhaps because of these resettlement practices as well as the restrictive nature of Amish life, the belief persists that large numbers of the young people are leaving their religion and that the Old Order Amish are doomed to eventual extinction. However, a close examination of their communities in the Midwest leads to the inevitable conclusion that the Amish are a rapidly growing, prosperous people who do not in any sense appear to be declining in numbers or conviction ) The settlements established since 1950 in Iowa, Missouri, and Minnesota, with a few exceptions, have increased rapidly in population and most appear to be strong, ongoing communities with every prospect of increased future growth. As land prices continue to escalate and population becomes denser in traditional Amish areas such as Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and Holmes County, Ohio, the midwestern Amish communities in Minnesota, Iowa, and Missouri will no doubt continue to expand in both size and number. Their status as given here reflects 1974 conditions. 141 142 CHAPTER TEN MISSOURI OLD ORDER AMISH SETTLEMENTS Although the first Amish Mennonite church was organized in 1860 near Garden City, Missouri, the present Old Order Amish communities are of more recent origin. Six groups were established in the mid· 1900s, and by 1957 the following settlements existed in Missouri: Bowling Green, North; Bowling Green, South; Jamesport; Green Ridge; Clark; and Macon)! The Green Ridge Old Order group has since become extinct, and the two Bowling Green communities have merged. The largest Missouri Old Order community is J amespon. Beginning in 1953 with five families from Delaware and Iowa, the group has expanded rapidly and contains five church districts with a total of slightly over 100 families. 3 The second largest Missouri settlement is Bowling Green, one of the first Old Order communities in Missouri. The group began in 1948 when five families moved from Berne and Port· land, Indiana, and Dover, Delaware. This community includes ninetyfour families situated within four church districts.4 Clark has the third largest Missouri Old Order Amish population and is divided into four church districts. This settlement began in the fall of 1953 with the first families moving from Fairbank, Iowa (Buchanan County), and includes approximately seventy families." Somewhat smaller in size as well as being of more recent origin are the Old Order communities of Seymour, Macon, and Marshfield. The Old Order Amiah started the Seymour community in 1968 when some twenty families moved from Geneva, Indiana. The group has since expanded to include thirty-five families. The Macon co~munity (sometimes referred to as the Anabel settlement because the first families had Anabel addresses) began in the fall of 1956, with families from Taylor County, Wisconsin, along with one family from Buchanan County. Later. families settled there from Arkansas, Indiana. and Wisconsin along with Missouri Amish from Jamesport and Bowling Green. The group has expanded to twenty-two families and has organized into two church districts. Of similar size is the Old Order community at Marshfield which consists of sixteen families. 6 The smallest Old Order Amish communities of Fortuna. Douglas County (Dogwood), and Mountain View were of similar size. The Fortuna community began in 1968 and at one point included eighteen fa]Ililies. However, the seven remaining Amish families in the group had moved from the area by fall 1974. The Mountain View settlement was originated in 1966 with seven of the first families moving from Ohio, one from Michigan, and one from Indiana. Several of the original @ Old Order Amish IZI Old Order Mennonite A Amish Mennonite IZlTunas AHaif Way fl)Marshfield SPRINGFIELD. fl)Seymour fl) Dogwood (Douglas Co.l Mountain @View Rutledge IZI Clarkfl) • KIRKSVILLE fl)Macon HANNIBAL Bowling Green @ Fortuna IZICalifornia ~Latham IZlBarnett @ Windsor KANSAS CITY MAP 4. Old Order Amish and Mennonite settlements in Missouri. families have moved away leaving five in the area. The...