Menu-icon
You have no items in your shopping cart.
Close

      Swiss in Wisconsin: Revised and Expanded Edition

      $9.95
      Paperback
      80 pages, 27 b/w photos & illus., 6 x 9"
      ISBN: 9780870203770

      Published by Wisconsin Historical Society Press

      Ordering for retail, wholesale, school, library, or other tax-exempt organization?
      SKU: 9780870203770
      - +

      By Frederick Hale

      As the Fohn blew the first breaths of spring into the Alps in March 1845, two Swiss men embarked on a circuitous voyage that took them from the impoverished canton of Glarus in eastern Switzerland to the hills of southern Wisconsin. Their mission: to select and purchase a tract of land to which the Swiss government could dispatch part of its excess population.

      With subscriptions from prospective emigrants totaling about $2,600, Nicholas Durst and Fridolin Streiff ultimately purchased 1,280 acres of timber and prospective farmland in Green County - land fellow immigrants declared "beautiful beyond expectation," offering "excellent timber, good soil, fine springs, and a stream filled with fish." Thus began the colony at New Glarus, Wisconsin, perhaps the most distinctively Swiss settlement in the United States. A mere five years later, Wisconsin boasted 1,224 of the nation's 13,358 Swiss immigrants.

      In this concise introduction to the state's Swiss settlers, Frederick Hale traces the catalysts for Swiss emigration, their difficult journeys, and their adjustments to life on Wisconsin soil. Updates for this expanded edition include additional historic photographs and the selected writings of John Luchsinger, who settled at the Swiss colony at New Glarus, in 1856.

      By Frederick Hale

      As the Fohn blew the first breaths of spring into the Alps in March 1845, two Swiss men embarked on a circuitous voyage that took them from the impoverished canton of Glarus in eastern Switzerland to the hills of southern Wisconsin. Their mission: to select and purchase a tract of land to which the Swiss government could dispatch part of its excess population.

      With subscriptions from prospective emigrants totaling about $2,600, Nicholas Durst and Fridolin Streiff ultimately purchased 1,280 acres of timber and prospective farmland in Green County - land fellow immigrants declared "beautiful beyond expectation," offering "excellent timber, good soil, fine springs, and a stream filled with fish." Thus began the colony at New Glarus, Wisconsin, perhaps the most distinctively Swiss settlement in the United States. A mere five years later, Wisconsin boasted 1,224 of the nation's 13,358 Swiss immigrants.

      In this concise introduction to the state's Swiss settlers, Frederick Hale traces the catalysts for Swiss emigration, their difficult journeys, and their adjustments to life on Wisconsin soil. Updates for this expanded edition include additional historic photographs and the selected writings of John Luchsinger, who settled at the Swiss colony at New Glarus, in 1856.

      Tax-exempt orders cannot be placed in the WHS online store, shop.wisconsinhistory.org, at this time. Tax-exempt organizations can order Society Press books through the Chicago Distribution Center. Please contact them directly to create a tax exempt account and place orders:

      Wisconsin Historical Society Press
      c/o Chicago Distribution Center
      11030 South Langley Avenue
      Chicago, IL 60628-3830

      (800) 621-2736
      custserv@press.uchicago.edu
      fax: (800) 621-8476 or (800) 702-7212

      Find more information about ordering WHS Press books, for schools, libraries, and retail/wholesale. Ordering WHS Press Books

      Wisconsin Historical Society Press books ship from the Chicago Distribution Center. (800) 621-2736, custserv@press.uchicago.edu.

      When ordered with gifts, apparel, historic images, and other items in the online store, WHS Press books ship separately. Additional shipping is charged when orders contain items that ship from multiple locations.

      Write your own review
      • Product can be reviewed only after purchasing it
      *
      *
      • Bad
      • Excellent
      *
      *
      *
      *
      Customers who bought this item also bought
      Germans in Wisconsin book cover featuring black and white image of German people standing outside of shop

      Germans in Wisconsin (Revised and Expanded)

      9780870203244
      Learn about the values and ideas the Germans brought with them from the Old Country, including their achievements on the farm, in the workplace and in academia over the course of 150 years in Wisconsin.4

      Published by Wisconsin Historical Society Press

      Ordering for retail, wholesale, school, library, or other tax-exempt organization?
      $12.95
      Finns in Wisconsin book cover featuring black and white image of the Finns with blue background

      Finns in Wisconsin Revised and Expanded Edition

      9780870203909
      Paperback: $9.95
      40 pp, illustrated
      ISBN:9780870203909

      Published by Wisconsin Historical Society Press

      Ordering for retail, wholesale, school, library, or other tax-exempt organization?
      $9.95
      Welsh in Wisconsin book cover featuring a black and white photograph of a man on top of a giant hay bale being pulled by a couple of horses.

      Welsh in Wisconsin: Revised and Expanded

      9780870203565
      Paperback
      64 pp, photos
      ISBN: 9780870203565

      Published by Wisconsin Historical Society Press

      Ordering for retail, wholesale, school, library, or other tax-exempt organization?
      $9.95
      Irish in Wisconsin

      Irish in Wisconsin

      9780870203466
      Learn about the rich history of Irish immigration, settlements, and cultural influence in Wisconsin.

      Published by Wisconsin Historical Society Press
      Ordering for retail, wholesale, school, library, or other tax-exempt organization?
      $12.95