How Sweden’s worst harvest in decades built this thriving Kansas settlement

Pastor Olsson’s Swedish Colony at Lindsborg Kansas

When crops failed in Sweden in 1867, thousands faced a stark choice: starve or start over. Many chose Kansas.

The Swedish population there jumped from just 204 in 1865 to over 17,000 by 1890. Pastor Olof Olsson led a large group to establish Lindsborg in 1869, about 25 miles from Rock City.

These farm families lived in dugouts and hollow logs at first, working railroad jobs while their first crops grew.

They traded treasured items from home for necessities – one woman swapped her silk shawl plus $25 for a sewing machine.

The rolling prairies of central Kansas still echo with their stories at places like the Lindsborg Old Mill & Swedish Heritage Museum.

Starvation Pushed Thousands From Sweden to American Plains

Hunger drove Swedes to Kansas after crops failed in 1867-1868. Wet weather and drought ruined harvests across Sweden.

People got so hungry they made bread from lichen, giving 1867 the nickname “Lichen Year.” Farmers had to kill nearly half their cattle during the 1868 drought.

Disease followed hunger, with outbreaks hitting weak communities in 1869. About 60,000 Swedes left home during these three years.

Kansas saw its Swedish population grow from just 204 people in 1865 to 17,096 by 1890.

Companies Bought Huge Chunks of Kansas for Swedish Settlers

The First Swedish Agricultural Company formed in Chicago on April 17, 1868. Most members had just fled Sweden’s crop failures the year before.

They quickly bought 13,168 acres from the Kansas Pacific railway in McPherson and Saline counties. The Galesburg Land Company started in Illinois that fall and grabbed 14,080 more acres nearby.

Both companies took religion seriously, making members promise they were “believing Christians” who followed Lutheran teachings.

A Pastor Led Hundreds to Start Fresh in Smoky Valley

Pastor Olof Olsson brought many Swedish families from Värmland to central Kansas in spring 1869. They settled in what became Lindsborg, about 25 miles from Rock City.

Many belonged to a deeply religious group called läsare who put their Christian faith first in everything.

They picked a spot with good farming soil and the Smoky Hill River running through it, giving them reliable water. These farmers saw America as a place to practice their religion freely while farming new land.

Swedish Farmers Traded Forests for Endless Prairie

Swedish immigrants knew small fields surrounded by pine forests back home. Kansas shocked them with open prairie stretching as far as they could see.

Many felt hemlängtan, a deep homesickness for Sweden’s familiar landscape. Their first homes were often simple dugouts cut into hillsides with sod roofs.

Some even lived in hollow logs while getting started.

Many worked temp jobs at military posts and railroad sites to earn money while waiting for their first crops to grow.

Settlers Built Communities From Nothing

N. P. Swenson opened one of the first blacksmith shops west of town, helping local farmers.

The company built a central house where people held church services and county meetings before proper buildings existed. Neils Olson built the first actual house in Lindsborg in 1869, while J.H. Johnson opened the first store that same year.

The community grew fast enough to get a post office by December, with Johnson serving as postmaster. The first Swedish Lutheran church in the area started in 1863 near Cleburne in Riley county, called Mariadahl.

Families Gave Up Treasures to Survive on the Frontier

Pioneers faced tough choices daily. One mother traded her beautiful white silk shawl from Sweden plus $25 cash for a sewing machine her family of seven needed.

Death came often, with one Swedish woman writing home about burying their dead “under a large, lone tree out on the prairie, sometimes without a coffin. ”

When Mrs. John Nelson, mother of seven small children, died in early 1869, neighbors scraped together only six dollars for lumber to build her coffin. Sod houses stayed dirty as soil and bugs fell from walls and ceilings.

In 1874, grasshoppers ate crops across the region.

Trains Changed Everything for Swedish Settlements

The railroad reached Lindsborg in 1879, connecting the town to the outside world. That same year, the town officially became a real town with John A. Swensson as its first mayor. The Kansas Pacific Railway built a proper train station, with the first train arriving on July 4, 1879.

Grain storage soon followed, with Wickham & Company building a $6,000 facility that held 12,000 bushels. Anderson & Ferlin built an even bigger one holding 30,000 bushels.

The first local newspaper, the Lindsborg Localist, started that year too.

Swedes Built Schools to Preserve Their Values

Dr. Carl Swensson, pastor of Bethany Lutheran church, started Bethany College in 1881.

He worried that without good schools, the community might focus too much on money instead of spiritual life.

The college got famous for its music program, starting a tradition of performing Handel’s “Messiah” in 1882 that still happens today.

In 1894, artist Birger Sandzén came from Sweden to teach there, later becoming Kansas’ most famous painter.

Many Swedish churches ran summer language schools for two months each year, helping kids keep their heritage while becoming American.

Politics Divided Some Swedish Communities

Most Swedes became strong Republicans because Democrats had backed slavery before the Civil War.

Dr. Carl Swensson once said “every Swede is born a Republican and will remain such if no unforeseen accidents overtake him. ” Voting records from 1894 in Smoky Hill township showed 75.9% Republican support compared to just 21. 3% for Populists and only 3% for Democrats.

These political fights caused real problems.

Seven members of Bethany Lutheran church got kicked out in 1891 just for joining the Farmers’ Alliance, a group pushing for farm reforms.

English Gradually Replaced Swedish in Kansas Towns

World War I marked when many Swedish communities started switching to English. Anti-German feelings affected all foreign languages.

Bethany Lutheran church in Lindsborg kept Swedish until 1928, when they began offering one service in Swedish and another in English. Early Swedish settlers rarely married outside their group.

Pastor Olof Olsson didn’t perform a single mixed marriage during his entire time in Lindsborg from 1869 to 1877.

Many Swedes mixed English words into their Swedish talks, using terms like “farming,” “lawyer,” and “trainen” (train).

Little Sweden Still Thrives in the Kansas Heartland

By 1890, nearly half a million Swedes called America home, with over 17,000 living in Kansas.

Today, people with Swedish ancestry live throughout Kansas, though most still cluster in McPherson, Saline, and nearby counties. Looking back after twenty years, Rev. Olof Olsson noted how “In America, every working man can, if he will, become a nobleman, baron, and count. ”

Dr. Carl Swensson observed that “The sod-house yields to comfortable wood house, the farmer is happy proprietor in the largest and best country in the world.”

Lindsborg embraced its heritage as “Little Sweden,” located just 25 miles from Rock City, and continues celebrating Swedish traditions with festivals and cultural events that connect present-day Kansans to their pioneering ancestors.

Visiting Rock City, Kansas

You can learn about Swedish immigration to central Kansas at the Smoky Valley Historical Museum in Lindsborg, 25 miles from Rock City.

The museum costs $10 for adults and $5 for students, open 9am to 5pm Monday through Saturday. You’ll see the 1904 Swedish Pavilion from the St. Louis World’s Fair and historic buildings showing how Swedish families lived after fleeing crop failures.

They offer genealogy research services to trace your Swedish ancestry through their archives.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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