Immigrants Studying for Naturalization, 1937
Immigrating by Steamer, ca. 1901
Why Move to Iowa?
Immigrant Transportation
Iowa Land for Sale
The Icarians
Czechoslovakians Come to Iowa
Immigrants Adjust to New Lives
Variety of Immigrants Come to Iowa
Dutch Immigrate to Iowa
A Legacy Continues
Iowans Became Aware of Diverse CulturesImmigration in Iowa
Who were the first people to live
in what is now Iowa? No one knows for sure. We do know that the story of North
America, the United States, Iowa, and your community is a story of immigration.
Coming to America
An immigrant is a person who comes
into a country to make it a permanent home. Historians believe the first people
who immigrated to the North American continent came from Asia. Their descendants,
the many tribes of American Indians, were here when the first European explorers
arrived. Europeans began to colonize North America during the late 16th and
early 17th centuries. Many Indians were forced to move, or were killed in
battles over land that the newcomers wanted for settlement. Although France,
Spain and the Netherlands planted colonies in what is now the United States,
the English came in the largest numbers. Eventually, Spain, France and the
Netherlands lost control of their lands. English law, customs and language
became the basis for American culture.
In the early 18th century, a great migration of non-English people began to
arrive on America's eastern shores. Because most of the eastern seaboard was
occupied by the earlier settlers, these newcomers moved inland and down the
Appalachian Mountain valleys where unsettled land was still available. This
westward migration slowed in the 1750s when war with France over the control
of the Ohio River threatened these settlers. Westward migration began again
after the American Revolution ended in 1783.
During the 19th century, immigrants arrived at American shores at an increasing
rate. The United States, with what seemed to be an endless supply of land,
became a haven of new hope just as it had been for the first colonists. People
from England's crowded industrial cities migrated to escape wretched working
conditions. From the many small countries located in what is today Germany,
people who would have been jailed because of their religious or political
beliefs fled to America. Expansion of American transportation systems brought
Irish immigrants to work on canals and railroads and even more left their
homeland following the potato crop failures of the 1840s. Scandinavians seeking
land ownership saw the hope for a better life in America where farmland was
both plentiful and fertile.
On the West Coast thousands of Chinese poured into the country to work on
the rapidly expanding railroad system. From the south came Mexican workers
to labor in the fields.
By the late 1800s the new immigrants in America tended to come from northern
and western Europe and included people from Great Britain, Germany, Norway,
Sweden and Denmark. The largest immigrant groups to settle in Iowa were from
the British Isles (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland).
Push, Pull
Why would a family leave their homeland
and travel thousands of miles to a new home in Iowa?
There are many reasons including wars, a bad economy or famines that
made life difficult in the home country. Many immigrants came to Iowa because
life was hard or dangerous in their homeland. Historians call these a "push
factor." In a way, the families were "pushed" from their homeland.
Immigrants left their homes to live in the United States because they knew
there was a lot of land available. They heard about freedom of speech and
religion. Sometimes other family members had moved to America earlier and
wrote back home to tell of life in America. It sounded good to many people
living in Europe and Asia. So they decided to move to America too. Many came
to Iowa. Historians call these a "pull factor." In a way, the families
were "pulled" to a new, better way of life in America.
Coming to Iowa
Iowa was still a young, growing
state during the years when millions of foreign-born immigrants arrived on
America's shores. It was a time when immigrants needed new homes, and Iowa
needed to attract new citizens.
To attract immigrants railroad and land companies advertised in eastern newspapers
describing the rich, productive farmland and the beauty of the state. After
immigrants settled in Iowa, they often wrote glowing letters to relatives
and friends in their homelands. These "America Letters" often influenced
others to immigrate to this state. By 1870 about 18 percent of the people
living in Iowa were foreign-born.
Except for those from Canada or the British Isles, most of the immigrants did not speak English. Also, they had grown up in countries
with customs different from those in the United States. To make the adjustment
to living in a new land where language, customs, values and government were
different, newcomers often traveled and settled in groups. This led to large
ethnic areas or neighborhoods
where the immigrant families often remained through the first and second generation.
As children of immigrants attended Iowa schools and learned American customs
and language, the most obvious differences between the cultures disappeared.
Until the late 1800s the new immigrants in America tended to come from northern and western Europe and included people from Great Britain, Germany, Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The largest immigrant groups to settle in Iowa were from the British Isles (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland). In the last two decades of the 19th century and the first two decades of the 20th century, there was an increase in immigrants coming from eastern and southern Europe. Italians, Bohemians, Czechs, Poles, Greeks and Russians began finding their way to the Midwest. Some worked in the coal mines or found factory jobs in large cities. Not as many became farmers because most of the cheap farm land had been purchased by earlier arrivals. Because their religion, language and customs were different from those of northern European groups who had arrived earlier, these later immigrants sometimes faced different forms of discrimination.
New Iowans
Iowa descendants of 19th century
immigrants consider themselves Americans. Some have kept or revived special
cultural traditions, while others have forgotten most of their European heritage.
People from other countries continue to move to Iowa to live. The state has
become home to thousands of refugees from Europe and Asia. Africans moved
to Iowa. A large number of new Iowans came from Mexico and South and Central
America, becoming the largest immigrant group in Iowa.
