Swedes

• Swedes came began coming to Chicago between 1840 and 1870.
• After 1870, the population of Swedes in Chicago rose to 20,000 and kept doubling, tripling and quadrupling till 1920.
• The Swedes were different than other ethnic groups because they, as Swedish Pioneers, established before 1880, and they had founded 13 ethnic churches.
• The largest Swedish neighborhood was Swede Town which was located on the Near North Side, half of the Swedish community came from there.
• Two smaller communities which were located on the Near West Side and the Near South Side, Swedes had accumulated cash reserves.
• They spoke English and knew the city very well.
• They eventually moved out of the loop into better quality homes.
• Immigrants of the 1880s to 1900s move up the community-building process because they benefited from the earlier Swedish immigrants.
• A man from the second generation Swedes stated that "The people down there began to be nothing but foreigners who cared nothing for making the neighborhood attractive."
• While Poles, Italians and Greeks built their ethnic enclaves, Swedes were vacating theirs.