Visit Swede Hollow - A By-Gone Piece of Swedish History in the Twin Cities

Immigration from Sweden. Between 1845 and 1863, thousands of Swedish immigrants left their homeland and made their way to the United States. They left Sweden for a variety of reasons, including famine and religious persecution. According to a brochure available at the American Swedish Institute (located in Minneapolis), at the peak of this immigration, Minnesota was the center of Swedish America, with over 126,000 Swedish-born immigrants living in the state in 1905. Of that number, 38.000 lived in the Twin Cities. Chicago was the only city that had a larger number of Swedish immigrants.

Swede Hollow. One entry point for Swedes into the life and culture of the Twin Cities was an area of St. Paul known as "Swede Hollow." Swede Hollow was located in a ravine on the east side of St. Paul that could be reached by going through a tunnel that led from a higher level of the city into the ravine. Phalen Creek ran through the area and was the source of water for the immigrants who would settle in the area. The name, "Swede Hollow," was given by the first immigrants to inhabit the area, the Swedish immigrants. According to an article on the Twin Cities Public Television website, they called the area "Svenska Dalen" or "Swedish Dale." It became known as "Swede Hollow." For 140 years, it was home to immigrants from different countries.

Newly arrived immigrants, drawn to the Twin Cities by the promise of jobs and a better life, would find their way-usually from the railroad station-to the shantytown Hollow. Sometimes they were looking for relatives. Sometimes they only wanted a place to live. In Swede Hollow, they could find either or both. If the immigrants found an empty house, they simply moved in. No money exchanged hands and there were no deeds involved. As the immigrants became more affluent, they moved out of the Hollow and room was available for new immigrants.