During the mid-19th century many Swedes suffering harsh economic times in their
homeland, emigrated to the United States. As the Northern Pacific and Great Northern Railroads reached across the United States to Oregon in 1883, the number of Swedes in Oregon swelled. By 1910, Swedes were the second largest ethnic group in Oregon. In the 1920’s the number of new immigrants tapered off with a change in U.S. immigration policy, but by then first and second generation Swedish Americans accounted for ca 125,000, as recorded by the US census.
