Uploaded on: 06/24/2007
Timeline:
Minnesota's heritage from 1000 B.C. to now
1000 B.C. — 1700 A.D.: Earliest people
Woodland and Mississippian people who cultivated wild rice and made pottery.
Before 1670s — 1870: The Dakota
The Dakota peoples arrived, among them the Mdewakanton. After 1850, the Dakota attacked white settlers. Many fled to Dakota Territory. By 1866, their number had dropped from more than 7,000 to 375, then in 1870 to 176. Subsequently, the Dakota increased in numbers.
Late 1600s — early 1700s: The Ojibway
The Ojibway arrived from the eastern Great Lakes. They hunted, fished, harvested wild food and farmed. Later they lost much land, were relegated to reservations and suffered under federal Indian policies. After World War II, much of the Indian population moved to urban centers, especially Minneapolis and St. Paul.
1830 — 1890: French and French Canadians
The French and — much more numerous — French Canadians followed the first explorers, men such as Father Jacques Marquette and Daniel Greysolon, Sieur Du Luth, down the St. Lawrence Seaway. Most were fur traders. The first settlement was at Mendota, where St. Peter parish today is the state’s oldest.
Significant dates in the 1800s
Bishop Mathias Loras of Dubuque, Iowa, in 1939 traveled up the Mississippi to find 185 Catholics in Pig’s Eye (St. Paul) and Mendota. In 1850, Bishop Joseph Cretin, a French cleric, was named to head the new diocese of St. Paul. In 1858, Minnesota became a state.
Late 1700s — 1870: African-Americans
A handful of slaves came with their owners before Minnesota was organized as a territory in 1849. During the 1850s, free blacks and fugitive slaves migrated to Minnesota. In 1868, the state voluntarily enfranchised its black citizens. The black population nearly tripled from 259 in 1860 to 759 in 1870. St. Peter Claver parish in St. Paul was founded in 1889 for black people. Now, 97 percent of blacks live in urban areas.
1900 — 1930: Mexicans and Mexican-Americans
Only a handful arrived before 1900. Most who came in the 20th century were migrant or seasonal workers from the Southwest who came to work sugar beet fields and eventually settled in the state. A center for Mexicans, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, was founded in St. Paul as a mission in 1931 and incorporated as a parish in 1939.
1800 — 1890: The Irish
Massive Irish immigration began after the War of 1812, following 10 centuries of British conquest with its discrimination against Catholics. Few came to Minnesota then. The potato famine in Ireland between 1845 and 1851 accelerated emigration. Southeast Minnesota became the first site of Irish concentration in the state. There, people farmed. Archbishop John Ireland promoted Irish colonization by becoming a railroad agent. After 1900, the Irish became progressively more urban, and St. Paul became the political, religious and social center of Irish activity.
1820 — 1900: The Germans
German-speaking people constituted the largest single foreign-born group in Minnesota from 1860 until 1905. Many came inspired by the testimony of previous immigrants, and many were relatively wealthy. Persons of German stock in southeastern Minnesota made up 41 percent of the population in 1860. Stearns County and the Minnesota Valley became predominantly German, and these immigrants had capital to buy farms. New Ulm developed a reputation as the state’s most German city. St. Cloud was not far behind. St. John’s Abbey and University became an area anchor. Although Germans did not dominate the Twin Cities, they were more prevalent in St. Paul than in Minneapolis.
1855 — 1918: The Czechs
Primarily farmers, Czechs settled first in southern Minnesota, becoming the principal Slavic group to reach the state in the pioneer period. They settled in the Lake Minnetonka-Hopkins region of western Hennepin County, Steele County south of Owatonna, LeSeur, Scott and Rice Counties, especially New Prague, Fillmore and McLeod Counties. Later, Czechs migrated to the Alexandria area and northern Minnesota, especially St. Louis County. In 1886, a settler described Veseli as the “the only purely Czech town in the United States.” The years 1860 to 1880 were most active for Czech settlement across southern Minnesota. Many Czech ethnic parishes were created.
1875 — 1920: The Slovaks
Early Slovaks came to work in Minneapolis mills and foundries. In the 1880s and 1890s, many migrated to Iron Range mining towns and to farms throughout the state. Many were Roman and Greek Catholics. The Roman Catholic’s first parish was Ss. Cyril and Methodius in Minneapolis. A demonstration of Slovak identification is that parishioners who left Ss. Cyril and Methodius in the 1930s were returning 40 years later to be buried with their grandparents.
1850s — 1915: The Poles
Agricultural modernization forced tens of thousands to leave the Polish countryside. In the 1850s, Poles migrated to the Winona area to work as farm laborers or railroad track hands, in lumberyards and in domestic service. Among other communities that were home to immigrant Poles were Silver Lake in McLeod County and Opole in Stearns County. Wilno in Lincoln County was a rarity: a planned Polish community. After 1885, Polish communities grew in Minneapolis and St. Paul, facilitated by the availability of unskilled and semi-skilled jobs. Most Polish immigrants organized themselves into neighborhoods around Catholic churches, named after such medieval saints as Stanislaus, Adalbert, Hedwig and Casimir. The Catholic parish became the Polish institution par excellence.
1876 — 1915: The Italians
In the United States, land tillers from Italy became urban, industrial workers. In 1890, more than 80 percent of Minnesota Italians were in St. Paul, Minneapolis and Duluth. They were fruit, confectionary and cigar vendors, producers of statuary, musicians and teachers. Italian arrivals after 1900 frequently became railroad builders. Early in the 20th century, the largest concentration of Italians developed in Iron Range towns and mining locations of St. Louis and Itasca Counties, but that reversed after World War I. Early Italian immigrants tended to be anticlerical, but by 1906, Holy Redeemer parish was established in St. Paul. In 1911, St. Ambrose was created, until 1980 the only Italian national parish in Minnesota.
1975 — current: The Asians
The state’s Asian population includes Vietnamese, Lao, Cambodians, ethnic Chinese, Hmong, Korean and others. St. Paul became a clustering area for Hmong refugees in 1978, along with Vietnamese and ethnic Chinese “boat people.” In 1980 the refugee population more than doubled. Most left their homelands because of fear of reprisal by Communist regimes. The Vietnamese Catholic community was organized in 1978 for refugees in the archdiocese, and a Vietnamese congregation was established in December, 1977 at St. Vincent de Paul. The Vietnamese parish, St. Joseph Hien, was established in Minneapolis in 1987. The first Hmong families arrived in 1976, surging to almost 10,000 in 1980, when the Twin Cities had the largest concentration of Hmong in the nation. More are expected to arrive this year. Since 1995, the Hmong Catholic Community has gathered at St. Vincent de Paul in St. Paul. The Korean Catholic community, which started inthe early 1970s with a group of seven families of graduate students, now meets at St. Andrew Kim in St. Paul, the former Corpus Christi parish church. Named after a Korean martyr, St. Andrew Kim has about 300 members.
1990 to current — A new wave of Latinos
From 1990 to 2000, Minnesota’s Latino population increased 168 percent, from 54,000 to 143,400, with nearly 159,000 reported in mid-2002 — although experts say that number is closer to 200,000 if undocumented residents are included. Seventy-five percent live in the 12-county metro area that makes up archdiocese. Young and family-oriented, 39 percent percent of Latinos are under 18, and the median age is 26.
Recent immigrants from African nations
Most of the immigrants in Minnesota from African nations have come from Liberia, Nigeria, Camaroon, Ivory Coast, Togo, Senegal, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Guinea and Ghana. They are different from African-Americans, as they never were enslaved. Some are political refugees, while others come to join relatives. A community-oriented culture, many of the Africans gather to worship at St. Olaf in Minneapolis or St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center.
Source: “They Chose Minnesota,” Minnesota Historical Society