Little Chute, Wisconsin
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Little Chute is a village in Outagamie County, Wisconsin. The name is a semi-anglicized version of the original French name: "La Petite Chute" (meaning Little Falls), in reference to rapids on the nearby Fox River. The town was founded as the mission of St. John Nepomucene in 1836 and eventually saw the arrival of thousands of Dutch immigrants, creating a unique Catholic Dutch-American community. The population was 10,476 at the 2000 census. It is the home of The Great Wisconsin Cheese Festival and the Dutch festival of Kermis. The village contains Little Chute High School.
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[edit] Geography
Little Chute is located at (44.284087, -88.313629)GR1.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of 11.6 km² (4.5 mi²). 10.7 km² (4.1 mi²) of it is land and 0.9 km² (0.4 mi²) of it (8.02%) is water.
[edit] Demographics
As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 10,476 people, 3,878 households, and 2,803 families residing in the village. The population density was 979.4/km² (2,538.0/mi²). There were 3,956 housing units at an average density of 369.8/km² (958.4/mi²). The racial makeup of the village was 96.96% White, 0.10% African American, 0.54% Native American, 0.77% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.85% from other races, and 0.74% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.67% of the population.
There were 3,878 households out of which 38.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.7% were married couples living together, 9.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 27.7% were non-families. 22.1% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.68 and the average family size was 3.17.
In the village the population was spread out with 29.1% under the age of 18, 8.6% from 18 to 24, 32.1% from 25 to 44, 19.8% from 45 to 64, and 10.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 95.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.2 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $49,500, and the median income for a family was $57,090. Males had a median income of $39,019 versus $24,579 for females. The per capita income for the village was $21,181. About 5.0% of families and 6.0% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.3% of those under age 18 and 3.6% of those age 65 or over.
[edit] History
While sharing in the history of northeast Wisconsin, Little Chute has been influenced by two unique factors: the portages along the Fox River and the coming of Dutch-Catholic settlers in 1848. Prior to and during the early European settlement, the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway to the Mississippi River system was one of the most heavily traveled routes between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River[i]. The series of rapids along the Fox River near Little Chute necessitated canoe portages, leading to establishment of Menominee Native American village, Ookicitiming (“causeway” in Menominee)[ii] and later European trading posts. Afterward canals and locks would be built to circumvent these rapids. The actual construction of these features would provide employment to settlers, the Dutch among them, although the canal system would never prove to be a great success[iii].
Early Native American tribes in area included the Ho-Chunk, or Winnebago; Menominee; and the Sauk or Fox, for whom the river was named. The first Europeans to the area were the French. Jean Nicolet reached the Fox at the Bay of Green Bay in 1634 and set up a trading post. Explorers Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet passed through the area in 1673, following the canoe route to the Mississippi. As early as 1760, the families of Augustin and Charles Grignon, French Canadian Métis, established a fur trade post along the rapids. While French influence would wane, it can still be seen in local place names, particularly waterways. Locally the three major rapids on the Fox were named “La Grand Kauklin” (near Grignon’s trading post at present day Kaukauna), “La Petite Chute” (present day Little Chute) and “La Grand Chute” (still the name of the adjoining township).
The singular person in the establishment of Little Chute as a Catholic Dutch-American community was a Dominican missionary: Father Theodore J. Van de Broek. Born to wealthy parents in Amsterdam, Netherlands in June 1784, he had relatives in Uden, Noord Brabant, Netherlands and apparently spent time there as a youth. He was highly educated and fluent in six languages. He was ordained a priest in 1808 and joined the Dominican Order in 1817. After a period as a pastor in the Netherlands, he left in 1832 at the age of 49 to join other missionary priests at Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1834 he was ordered to Green Bay to an established Dominican mission. In Green Bay he met the Grignon family, and probably through this contact he went to La Petite Chute in 1836. There he built the first church for the Menominee Indians, St. John Nepomucene, one of several he would establish in the area. Father Van de Broek also met Morgan L. Martin, who was in charge of the local canal project. Father Van de Broek purchased land in the area which he later hoped to sell[iv]. In that same year, 1836, the Menominees signed the “Treaty of the Cedars” which required them to give up title to the local land and move beyond the Wolf River to the west.[v]
Father Van de Broek began to write letters about the area to groups in the Netherlands. The letters appeared in the Roman Catholic paper, “De Tijd” (The Times) beginning in 1843[vi]. In the summer of 1847 Father Van de Broek went back to the Netherlands to settle his parents’ estate. The settlement was not very beneficial and he found himself nearly destitute. As St. John Nepomucene parishioners were significantly reduced after the Treaty of the Cedars, he used the trip as an opportunity to again write in De Tijd, advertising the mission, the land at La Petite Chute and employment opportunities associated with the Fox River Canal, which included free passage to America for workers. The results were immediate and, by 1848, three wooden sailing vessels called "barks" or "barque" (small three-masted sailing ships), the Libra, the Maria Magdalena and the America,[xxviii] had been booked for passage to the east cost of the United States. Approximate 918 Dutch Catholic immigrants were on all three boats. Most of the early emigrants were from villages near Uden, including Zeeland, Boekel, Mill, Oploo and Gemert. The Dutch economy of the era was stagnant and much of the motivation to emigrate was economic. The emigrants were not poor, as the cost of passage, expenses and land purchase in Wisconsin would have been substantial. They were not, however, affluent and many would have been risking most of their wealth on the chance of economic improvement. There were also political pressures at the time that favored mass emigrations of Catholics. [vii] [viii] [ix] [xxvii].
Typical passage to La Petite Chute included passage across the Atlantic from Rotterdam to New York City, a train trip from there to Albany, a train or Erie Canal-barge trip across New York state to Buffalo, steamship travel through the Great Lakes and Bay of Green Bay to the head of the Fox River at Green Bay and finally a 30-mile, ox-cart trip to the mission at La Petite Chute. The first group from Rotterdam arrived on May 22, 1848, led by a Franciscan missionary, Fr Adrianus D. Godthard [x]. Father Van de Broek’s group, held up by an ice jam on Lake Michigan, arrived on June 10, 1848[xi]. (note: In 1848 Wisconsin, with its present boundaries, became a state. The emigrants would have discovered not plowed fields and a village but forested land, being somewhat misled by wording of the De Tijd advertisements: the word “acres” was translated as “akkers,” meaning cultivated land. There was also not enough good land in Father Van de Broek’s holdings for all the emigrants. There was a resort to drawing straws, with the winners naturally picking the best lots[xii]. Many of the others - led by Cornelis van de Heij, a farmer from Zeeland, and Father Godthard - left to form the village of Holland (usually referred to locally as “Hollandtown”)[xiii] rather than buying the remainder of Father Van de Broek’s land. There were other Europeans, mainly French and Irish emigrants, already established at La Petite Chute, now also known by its semi-anglicized name of “Little Chute”. A few Native Americans still lived in the area.
Despite the hardships, including the death of Father Van de Broek in 1851, the village prospered. Waves of Catholic Dutch emigrants followed from all over the Netherlands, with whole families and neighborhoods moving to join family and friends already established in Little Chute, Hollandtown and the outlining farming communities. It is estimated that, by 1927, as many as 40,000 Dutch Roman Catholics had immigrated to the area – an average rate of 10 per week for 80 years. [xiv]
From the start, St. John Nepomucene Church served as a focal point, although other churches would soon spring up in the other communities. The first settlers would have devoted all energies to clearing land, planting, building small homes and barns, fencing and raising livestock. The private Fox River Canal was a failure. The State “Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Company” took over operations in 1850 and finished the canal in 1856[xv]. Railways approached from the south and steamship lines were established on Lakes Michigan and Winnebago[xvi]. The 16 feet of water head at La Petite Chute and other falls was used for mills, a practice that continues. By the 1860 Census, a post office (listed as Little Chute) was established. In 1898 the fiftieth anniversary of the founding was commemorated and the surviving “48’ers” recognized[xvii]. In 1898, residents of La Petite Chute petitioned the State of Wisconsin for incorporation as the Village of Little Chute, which was formally granted on March 8, 1899.
While there are several other Dutch American cities – Oostburg, Wisconsin, Pella and Sioux Center, Iowa and Holland, Michigan - these were largely settled by Protestants. Little Chute and some surrounding area was largely settled by Catholics. By the early twentieth century it was the largest Catholic Dutch community in the United States.[xviii]. Little Chute remained a Dutch-speaking community - known locally as “speaking Hollander” - into the twentieth century. As late as 1898, church sermons and event announcements were in Dutch[xix]. Dutch newspapers continued in the area – mainly in De Pere by Catholic clergymen - were published up until World War I[xx] . Speaking Dutch as a first language was common in the area among 2nd and 3rd generation even as late as World War II[xxi]. The Dutch festival of Sinterklaas was celebrated as “St Nick’s Day” (December 5) until the late 1960s. St. John Nepomucene was the primary educational institution with the local public high school not opening until 1966[xxii].
Little Chute has celebrated the Dutch festival of Kermis annually since 1981 - after a long hiatus dating back to the early twentieth century - possibly the only such named event in the United States[xxiii]. St. John Nepomucene is a thriving parish with recent additions to the church and elementary school. The village has embarked on an ambitious project to build a full-scale working windmill[xxiv] as a museum and tourist attraction. Today, while many homes are decorated with windmills and Dutch figurines, the use of the Dutch language and day-to-day culture has all but discontinued.
[edit] Schools
Little Chute contains a public and private school system: St. John's- through 8th, Public: K-12. The superintendent of the Little Chute School District is Dave Botz. Grades 6-12 of the public school are located in the same building but in separate areas. [xxv]
[edit] School and Sport Success
In 2006 the Little Chute High School men's basketball team took first place in the Valley 8 conference.[xxvi]
[edit] References
[i] “That Dark and Bloody River”, 1996, Allan Eckert
[ii] “Little Chute, A Century of Progress, 1899-1999”, 1999, Village of Little Chute Centennial Committee
[iii] American Canal Society Canal Index. www.americancanals.org/Wisconsin/Lower Fox River - revised.pdf
[iv] “The First Dutch Catholics In Brown County”, Willem Keeris, Netherlands
[v]History- Treaties- September3,1836; The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin, http://www.menominee.nsn.us/History/History/HistoryPages/HistoryTreatiesSept31836.htm
[vi] “Little Chute, A Century of Progress, 1899-1999”, 1999, Village of Little Chute Centennial Committee
[vii] “The First Dutch Catholics In Brown County”, Willem Keeris, Netherlands
[viii] "Priest led party of emigrants to Wisconsin's frontier territory”, Albert Vanderheide, http://www.GoDutch.com
[ix] “Landverhuizing als regionaal verschijnsel, Van Noord-Brabant naar Noord-Amerika, 1820 – 1880”, doctoral thesis, H.A.V.M. Van Stekelenburg, www.GoDutch.com Friday, March 07, 2003
[x] “Early Dutch Settlements in Wisconsin” Twilah DeBoer, June, 1999 http://www.wlhn.org/users/wlhn/web/wisconsonian/june99/dutch_settlements.htm
[xi] “Little Chute, A Century of Progress, 1899-1999”, 1999, Village of Little Chute Centennial Committee
[xii] “Little Chute, A Century of Progress, 1899-1999”, 1999, Village of Little Chute Centennial Committee
[xiii] Transcript of Dutch immigrant Arnold Verstegen's letters, 1850 and 1852,
[xiv] “Nederlanders in Amerika”, Van Hinte, Assen, 1928
[xv] Little Chute, A Century of Progress, 1899-1999, Village of Little Chute Committee
[xvi] Reminiscences of a Pioneer Missionary By Rev. Chrysostom Verwyst. Wisconsin Historical Society Separate No. 173 - From the Proceedings of the Society for 1916, http://www.turtletrack.org/Issues03/Co09062003/CO_09062003_Verwyst_2.htm
[xvii] Milwaukee Sentinel, July 15, 1898.
[xviii] “Netherlanders in America” Lucas, 1955
[xix] Milwaukee Sentinel, July 15, 1898.
[xx] “Early Dutch Settlements in Wisconsin” Twilah DeBoer, June, 1999 http://www.wlhn.org/users/wlhn/web/wisconsonian/june99/dutch_settlements.htm
[xxi] Conversations with several Little Chute residents, one resident since 1915.
[xxii] “Little Chute, A Century of Progress, 1899-1999”, 1999, Village of Little Chute Centennial Committee
[xxiii] “Dutch Americans”, Herbert J. Brinks, http://www.everyculture.com/multi/Du-Ha/Dutch-Americans.html
[xxiv] Little Chute Windmill Committee, http://www.focol.org/littlechutewindmill/
[xxv] Appleton Post Cresent
[xxvi] Wisconsin Recent History, http://www.recentWIfact.wi.gov/, link invalid March 9, 2007
[xxvii] Catholics were far fewer in number than Protestants among the immigrants. On their experiences see Yda Schreuder, Dutch Catholic Immigrant Settlement in Wisconsin, 1850-1905 (New York: Garland, 1989); and H. A. V. M. van Stekelenburg, Landverhuizing als regionaal verschijnsel: Van Noord-Brabant naar Noord-Amerika 1820-1880 (Tilburg: Stichting Zuidelijk Historisch Contact, 1991). On Dutch Jews see Robert P. Swierenga, The Forerunners: Dutch Jewry in the North American Diaspora (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1994). On socialists see Pieter R. D. Stokvis, "Dutch Socialist Immigrants and the American Dream," in The Dutch-American Experience: Essays in Honor of Robert P. Sweierenga, ed. Hans Krabbendam and Larry J. Wagenaar (Amsterdam: Vrije Universiteit Uitgeverij, 2000).
For an overview on Dutch immigration which explains the three waves see Suzanne M. Sinke, "Dutch," in A Nation of Peoples: A Sourcebook on America's Multicultural Heritage, ed. Elliott R. Barkan (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999), pp. 156-7. See also Robert P. Swierenga, "Dutch," in Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups, ed. Stephan Thernstrom (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1980), pp. 284-95. By far the most complete study of the nineteenth-century migrants in the United States is Jacob van Hinte's Netherlanders in America: A Study of Emigration and Settlement in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries in the United States of America, 2 vols., ed. Robert P. Swierenga, trans. Adriaan de Wit (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1985), a translation and reprint of the original published in the Netherlands in 1928. Henry S. Lucas also utilized this work extensively for his Netherlanders in America: Dutch Immigration to the United States and Canada, 1789-1950 (1955; reprint, Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 1989).
See Robert P. Swierenga, "Local Patterns of Dutch Migration to the United States in the Mid-nineteenth Century," in “A Century of European Migrations”, ed. Rudolph Vecoli and Suzanne Sinke (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1991), pp. 134-57.
[xxviii] All three ships (broker was Hudig & Blokhuyzen) departed from Rotterdam. Libra departed 13 March 1848 and arrived in Boston, America departed on 18 March 1848 and arrived in Philadelphia, and Maria Magdelena departed 20 March 1948 and arrived in New York City.
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Grand Chute* | Kaukauna° | Little Chute‡ | Menasha° | Menasha* | Neenah° |
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Buchanan* | Center* | Clayton* | Combined Locks‡ | Freedom* | Greenville* |
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