Norwegian Settlers Memorial

The early 20th century saw several official commemorations of the 100th anniversaries of pioneer Norwegian immigration.

The Norwegian Settlers Memorial, located in Norway, Illinois, is the official memorial of the U.S. state of Illinois maintained in honor of immigrants from the European country of Norway. The memorial celebrates the arrival, in 1834, of a pioneering band of farm-seekers led by the peripatetic ethnic leader Cleng Peerson.^[1] Peerson's vessel, the Restauration, is often credited with bringing the first group of immigrants from Norway to the young United States. Scandinavian farm life had been devastated in 1816 by the Year Without a Summer, and younger sons and daughters from farm families in northern Norway were looking for new opportunities.

Dedicated in 1934, the Memorial celebrated the centennial of the arrival of Peerson's group. At the time the Memorial was dedicated, many of the descendants of the Peerson band were still farmers working the land their ancestors had taken up in 1834. Today, the Memorial is an unstaffed historic site of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. It is located by the roadside of Illinois Route 71 in Norway, 9 miles (14.5 km) northeast of Exit 93 on Interstate 80 in rural northern Illinois.^[1]

See also

• Bishop Hill, Illinois, a later pioneer settlement in Northern Illinois by immigrants from Sweden; Peerson moved here after leaving Norway, Illinois.
• Cranfills Gap, Texas, Peerson's final American home.
• Kendall, New York, Peerson's first settlement in the United States.
• Norwegian American

References