Koshkonong Settlement ( Norwegian : Kaskeland ) was a pioneer settlement located in Wisconsin 's eastern Dane and western Jefferson counties. It took its name from Koshkonong Lake , and particularly from Koshkonong Creek.
89-623: The first Norwegians located in the settlement in the spring and summer of 1840. The following year, Norwegian settlers from the Jefferson Prairie Settlement and the Fox River Settlement arrived. By 1850, more than half of Wisconsin's Norwegian population of 5,000 lived in the Koshkonong Settlement, which served for a time as the largest Norwegian-American community in the U.S. It was the sixth Norwegian settlement in
178-469: A Convair B-58 carrying nuclear weapons slid off an icy runway on Bunker Hill Air Force Base in Bunker Hill, Indiana and caught fire during a training drill. The five nuclear weapons on board were burned, including one 9-megaton thermonuclear weapon , causing radioactive contamination of the crash area. Beginning in 1970, a series of amendments to the state constitution were proposed. With adoption,
267-574: A socialist party . Railroader Eugene Debs of Terre Haute , the Socialist candidate received 901,551 votes (6.0% of the national vote) in the 1912 presidential election. Suffrage movements also arose to enfranchise women. In its earlier years, Indiana was a leader in the automobile boom. Beginning its production in Kokomo in 1896, Haynes-Apperson was the nation's first commercially successful auto company. The importance of vehicle and parts manufacture to
356-490: A bloodless capture of the city; and the Battle of Corydon , which occurred during Morgan's Raid leaving 15 dead, 40 wounded, and 355 captured. After the war, Indiana remained a largely agricultural state. Post-war industries included mining, including limestone extraction; meatpacking; food processing, such as milling grain, distilling it into alcohol; and the building of wagons , buggies , farm machinery, and hardware. However,
445-756: A cottage. The land which Vindeig located on is the south half of the northwest quarter of section thirty-four. There he lived until he died in October 1846. Sunde selected 40 acres (16 ha) of land directly north of Vindeig's home, which he later sold to Ole Lier. Vindeig's land purchase was recorded on May 22, 1840, a few days after the purchase by Gilderhus and Bolstad was recorded. The third group of settlers, most of them immigrants from Stavanger , were living in La Salle County, Illinois. These four men were Thorsten Olson Bjaaland, Amund Anderson Hornefjeld, Björn Anderson Kvelve, and Lars Olson Dugstad. Bjaaland had come in
534-450: A few weeks, when three of them decided to go and investigate for themselves. These three were Nils Bolstad, Nils Gilderhus, and Magne Bystölen. They engaged Odd J. Himle (who had emigrated from Voss in 1837), then living in Illinois , to accompany them as their guide and interpreter. Bystölen, being taken sick and thus prevented from going, gave instructions to the rest to select land for him if
623-520: A leading manufacturing state with heavy industry concentrating in the north. In 1906 the United States Steel Corporation created a new industrial city on Lake Michigan, Gary , named after Elbert Henry Gary , its founding chairman. With industrialization, workers developed labor unions (their strike activities induced governor James P. Goodrich to declare martial law in Gary in 1919) and
712-493: A little less variation across the state, as average high/low temperatures range from around 84 °F/64 °F (29 °C/18 °C) in the far north to 90 °F/69 °F (32 °C/21 °C) in the far south. Indiana's record high temperature was 116 °F (47 °C) set on July 14, 1936, at Collegeville . The record low was −36 °F (−38 °C) on January 19, 1994 at New Whiteland . The growing season typically spans from 155 days in
801-519: A portion of an estimated 24,000 total river miles within the state. The Wabash River , which is the longest free-flowing river east of the Mississippi River , is the official river of Indiana. At 475 miles (764 kilometers) in length, the river bisects the state from northeast to southwest, forming part of the state's border with Illinois, before converging with the Ohio River . The river has been
890-596: A prohibition on public debt, as well as the extension of suffrage to African-Americans. During the American Civil War , Indiana became politically influential and played an important role in the affairs of the nation. Indiana was the first western state to mobilize for the United States in the war, and soldiers from Indiana participated in all the war's major engagements. The state provided 126 infantry regiments, 26 batteries of artillery and 13 regiments of cavalry to
979-490: A state-funded welfare system to help overwhelmed private charities. During his administration, spending and taxes were both cut drastically in response to the Depression, and the state government was completely reorganized. McNutt ended Prohibition in the state and enacted the state's first income tax. On several occasions, he declared martial law to put an end to worker strikes. World War II helped lift Indiana's economy, as
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#17330855712521068-633: A town in the far southern part of Indiana, was named the second capital of the Indiana Territory in May 1813 in order to decrease the threat of Native American raids following the Battle of Tippecanoe. Two years later, a petition for statehood was approved by the territorial general assembly and sent to Congress. An Enabling Act was passed to provide an election of delegates to write a constitution for Indiana . On June 10, 1816, delegates assembled at Corydon to write
1157-665: Is about 760 feet (230 m) above sea level. The highest point in the state is Hoosier Hill in Wayne County at 1,257 feet (383 m) above sea level. The lowest point at 320 feet (98 m) above sea level is in Posey County , where the Wabash River meets the Ohio River . The resulting elevation span , 937 feet (286 m), is the narrowest of any non-coastal U.S. state. Only 2,850 square miles (7,400 km ) have an altitude greater than 1,000 feet (300 m) and this area
1246-761: Is disputed, but the leading theory, advanced by the Indiana Historical Bureau and the Indiana Historical Society, has its origin in Virginia, Kentucky, the Carolinas, and Tennessee (the Upland South ) as a term for a backwoodsman, a rough countryman, or a country bumpkin. The first inhabitants in what is now Indiana were the Paleo-Indians , who arrived about 8000 BC after the melting of the glaciers at
1335-631: Is enclosed within 14 counties. About 4,700 square miles (12,000 km ) have an elevation of less than 500 feet (150 m), mostly concentrated along the Ohio and lower Wabash Valleys, from Tell City and Terre Haute to Evansville and Mount Vernon . The state includes two natural regions of the United States: the Central Lowlands and the Interior Low Plateaus . The till plains make up
1424-620: Is in Marion County . Located in the Midwestern United States , Indiana is one of eight states that make up the Great Lakes Region . Indiana is bordered on the north by Michigan , on the east by Ohio , and on the west by Illinois , partially separated by the Wabash River . Lake Michigan borders Indiana on the northwest and the Ohio River separates Indiana from Kentucky on the south. The average altitude of Indiana
1513-606: The Adena people had elegant burial rituals, featuring log tombs beneath earth mounds. In the middle of the Woodland period, the Hopewell people began to develop long-range trade of goods . Nearing the end of the stage, the people developed highly productive cultivation and adaptation of agriculture, growing such crops as corn and squash . The Woodland period ended around 1000 AD. The Mississippian culture emerged, lasting from 1000 AD until
1602-764: The Eielsen Synod , a Norwegian Lutheran church body, was founded at Jefferson Prairie by a group led by Elling Eielsen . In 1853, the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (the "Norwegian Synod") was organized at Luther Valley. The organizing meeting of the Augustana Synod was held at Jefferson Prairie in June 1860. Today a historic marker near Wisconsin Highway 140 , four miles south of Clinton, marks
1691-520: The Fox River Settlement region located there permanently. The land there was mostly taken, and the Norwegians from Voss did not like the prairie; they were in search of a location where timber and water was near at hand, so some of them decided to locate in Wisconsin, where they had heard there was plenty of forest land with many lakes and rivers. The party from Voss had been in La Salle County, Illinois only
1780-606: The Indiana Court of Appeals was created and the procedure of appointing justices on the courts was adjusted. The 1973 oil crisis created a recession that hurt the automotive industry in Indiana. Companies such as Delco Electronics and Delphi began a long series of downsizing that contributed to high unemployment rates in manufacturing in Anderson , Muncie , and Kokomo . The restructuring and deindustrialization trend continued until
1869-594: The Iroquois . Later, ownership of the claim was transferred to the Indiana Land Company , the first recorded use of the word Indiana . But the Virginia colony argued that it was the rightful owner of the land because it fell within its geographic boundaries. The U.S. Supreme Court denied the land company's right to the claim in 1798. A native or resident of Indiana is known as a Hoosier . The etymology of this word
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#17330855712521958-467: The Mid-Atlantic states and adjacent Ohio, and Southern Indiana by settlers from the Upland South , particularly Kentucky and Tennessee . Indiana has a diverse economy with a gross state product of $ 352.62 billion in 2021. It has several metropolitan areas with populations greater than 100,000 and a number of smaller cities and towns. Indiana is home to professional sports teams, including
2047-761: The NFL 's Indianapolis Colts and the NBA 's Indiana Pacers . The state also hosts several notable competitive events, such as the Indianapolis 500 , held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway . Indiana's name means "Land of the Indians ", or simply "Indian Land". It also stems from Indiana's territorial history. On May 7, 1800, the United States Congress passed legislation to divide the Northwest Territory into two areas and named
2136-588: The Town of Clinton , in Rock County , Wisconsin , United States . This site and the nearby Rock Prairie settlement outside Orfordville served as centers for both Norwegian immigration and developments within the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America . The unincorporated community of Bergen is in the vicinity of Jefferson Prairie Settlement. Ole Knudsen Nattestad and Ansten Nattestad, two brothers from
2225-529: The Treaty of Greenville in 1795, Native American titles to Indiana lands were extinguished by usurpation, purchase, or war and treaty. About half the state was acquired in the Treaty of St. Mary's from the Miami in 1818. Purchases were not complete until the Treaty of Mississinewas in 1826 acquired the last of the reserved Native American lands in the northeast. A portrait of the Indiana frontier about 1810: The frontier
2314-564: The Union . In 1861, Indiana was assigned a quota of 7,500 soldiers to join the Union Army . So many volunteered in the first call that thousands had to be turned away. Before the war ended, Indiana had contributed 208,367 men. Casualties were over 35% among these men: 24,416 lost their lives and over 50,000 more were wounded. The only Civil War conflicts fought in Indiana were the Newburgh Raid ,
2403-513: The Wabash River , to try to control Native American trade routes from Lake Erie to the Mississippi River . In 1732, Sieur de Vincennes built a second fur trading post at Vincennes. French Canadian settlers, who had left the earlier post because of hostilities, returned in larger numbers. In a period of a few years, British colonists arrived from the East and contended against the Canadians for control of
2492-616: The colonies . The tribes in Indiana did not give up: they captured Fort Ouiatenon and Fort Miami during Pontiac's Rebellion . The British royal proclamation of 1763 designated the land west of the Appalachians for Native American use, and excluded British colonists from the area, which the Crown called "Indian Territory". In 1775, the American Revolutionary War began as the colonists sought self-government and independence from
2581-421: The discovery of natural gas in the 1880s in northern Indiana led to an economic boom: the abundant and cheap fuel attracted heavy industry ; the availability of jobs, in turn, attracted new settlers from other parts of the country as well as from Europe. This led to the rapid expansion of cities such as South Bend , Indianapolis, and Fort Wayne . The early decades of the 20th century saw Indiana develop into
2670-413: The sloopers ), Lars Olson Dugstad, Nels Siverson Gilderhus, Nels Larson Bolstad and Anders Finno. Nels Siverson Gilderhus, Nels Larson Bolstad and a third person, who did not settle there, visited the towns of Christiana and Deerfield somewhat late in the fall of 1839. A few "first settlers" preceded the Norwegians. In Albion, the Norwegians were the earliest settlers, for some of them came as early as
2759-554: The 15th century, shortly before the arrival of Europeans. During this stage, the people created large urban settlements designed according to their cosmology , with large mounds and plazas defining ceremonial and public spaces. The concentrated settlements depended on the agricultural surpluses. One such complex was the Angel Mounds . They had large public areas such as plazas and platform mounds, where leaders lived or conducted rituals. Mississippian civilization collapsed in Indiana during
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2848-535: The 1930s, Democrats were in power and "the Klan was political poison". During those years, Indiana, like the rest of the nation, was affected by the Great Depression . The economic downturn had a wide-ranging negative impact on Indiana, such as the decline of urbanization. The Dust Bowl to the west led many migrants to flee to the more industrialized Midwest. Governor Paul V. McNutt 's administration struggled to build
2937-403: The 1980s when the national and state economy began to diversify and recover. With a total area (land and water) of 36,418 square miles (94,320 km ), Indiana ranks as the 38th largest state in size. The state has a maximum dimension north to south of 250 miles (400 km) and a maximum east to west dimension of 145 miles (233 km). The state's geographic center (39° 53.7'N, 86° 16.0W)
3026-399: The 2016 update, about half the state is now classified as humid subtropical. Temperatures generally diverge from the north and south sections of the state. In midwinter, average high/low temperatures range from around 30 °F/15 °F (−1 °C/−10 °C) in the far north to 41 °F/24 °F (5 °C/−4 °C) in the far south. In midsummer there is generally
3115-552: The British. The majority of the fighting took place near the East Coast, but the Patriot military officer George Rogers Clark called for an army to help fight the British in the west. Clark's army won significant battles and took over Vincennes and Fort Sackville on February 25, 1779. During the war, Clark managed to cut off British troops, who were attacking the eastern colonists from
3204-520: The Christiana line in 1842, but he sold out in 1843 to Gulleik Thompson Saue. Andrew Fenno and Odd Himle did not purchase land. Among the immigrants who came from Rollaug, Numedal , in 1839, was Gunnul Olson Vindeig, though he did not come in Nattestad's party. Coming later in the year, he went via Chicago, directly to Jefferson Prairie, where he remained during the winter. In the early spring of 1840, about
3293-477: The Great Depression. With the conclusion of World War II, Indiana rebounded to pre-Depression levels of production. Industry became the primary employer, a trend that continued into the 1960s. Urbanization during the 1950s and 1960s led to substantial growth in the state's cities. The auto, steel and pharmaceutical industries topped Indiana's major businesses. Indiana's population continued to grow after
3382-520: The Klan sought exclude from public life " Bolsheviks , Catholics , Jews , Negroes , bootleggers , pacifists , evolutionists , foreigners, and all persons it considered immoral". By 1925 the Klan had 250,000 members, an estimated 30% of native-born white men. By 1925 over half the elected members of the Indiana General Assembly , the governor of Indiana , and many other high-ranking officials in local and state government were members of
3471-513: The Klan. Politicians had also learned they needed Klan endorsement to win office. That year, "Grand Dragon" D.C. Stephenson , who had begun to brag "I am the law in Indiana", was charged and convicted for the rape and murder of Madge Oberholtzer , a young schoolteacher. Denied pardon, in 1927 Stephenson gave the Indianapolis Times lists of people the Klan had paid. Partly as a result of compounded scandal, membership collapsed. Throughout
3560-637: The Northern Tier of New York and New England, as well as from the mid-Atlantic state of Pennsylvania. The arrival of steamboats on the Ohio River in 1811, and the National Road at Richmond in 1829, greatly facilitated settlement of northern and western Indiana. Following statehood, the new government worked to transform Indiana from a frontier into a developed, well-populated, and thriving state, beginning significant demographic and economic changes. In 1836,
3649-671: The Northwest Territory, designating the rest of the land as the Indiana Territory . President Thomas Jefferson chose William Henry Harrison as the governor of the territory, and Vincennes was established as the capital. After the Michigan Territory was separated and the Illinois Territory was formed, Indiana was reduced to its current size and geography. Starting with the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794 and
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3738-582: The Ohio River, the Quaker Colony in Richmond on the eastern border, and Conner's Post (later Connersville) on the east central frontier. Indianapolis would not be populated for 15 more years, and central and northern Indiana Territory remained wilderness populated primarily by Indigenous communities. Only two counties in the extreme southeast, Clark and Dearborn, had been organized by European settlers. Land titles issued out of Cincinnati were sparse. Settler migration
3827-541: The U.S. and the third to be founded in Wisconsin. It not only became large and prosperous, but it also became the most widely known as well as the wealthiest rural Norwegian settlement in the U.S. The townships in Dane County in which the Norwegians settled most extensively were found in three groups, viz.: in the southeastern, in the northern, and in the southwestern part of the county. The first of these comprised originally Albion , Christiana, and Deerfield; from this region
3916-404: The U.S. gained victory at the Battle of Tippecanoe on November 7, 1811. Tecumseh was killed in 1813 during the Battle of Thames . After his death, armed resistance to United States control ended in the region. Most Native American tribes in the state were later removed to west of the Mississippi River in the 1820s and 1830s after U.S. negotiations and the purchase of their lands. Corydon ,
4005-493: The U.S. government expelled between 1800 and 1836. Indiana received its name because the state was largely possessed by native tribes even after it was granted statehood. Since then, settlement patterns in Indiana have reflected regional cultural segmentation present in the Eastern United States ; the state's northernmost tier was settled primarily by people from New England and New York , Central Indiana by migrants from
4094-482: The Vossings, looked for wood and water, and in this region, the party selected land. Amund Hornefjeld chose the east half of the southeast quarter of section one, and Björn Kvelve, the west half of the same quarter section. Bjaaland chose 80 acres (32 ha) immediately north of Kvelve's, while Dugstad took the east half of the southwest quarter of section one. Rossaland selected a piece of land near that of Kvelve, but he
4183-647: The constitution, which was completed in 19 days. Jonathan Jennings was elected the fledgling state's first governor in August 1816. President James Madison approved Indiana's admission into the union as the nineteenth state on December 11, 1816. In 1825, the state capital was moved from Corydon to Indianapolis . Many European immigrants went west to settle in Indiana in the early 19th century. The largest immigrant group to settle in Indiana were Germans , as well as many immigrants from Ireland and England . Americans who were primarily ethnically English migrated from
4272-544: The corner of sections and quarter sections, giving the number of each. They then traveled westward to Koshkonong Prairie. Himle, Gilderhus and Bolstad inspected the whole prairie from one end to the other. After returning to Cambridge, they finally decided on a parcel of land a little over 2 miles (3.2 km) northwest of that place, lying on both sides of the boundary line between the towns of Christiana and Deerfield. Here Gilderhus and Bolstad selected 40 acres (16 ha) each, and 40 acres (16 ha) for Bystölen. This locality
4361-592: The county actually became settled. Springdale was settled first in 1844, when John Harlow entered it, he remaining the only European man there for a year. A few Americans came in 1845, then Americans and Norwegian immigrants in 1846. An American settlement was effected by Thomas Lindsay and David Robertson in the town of Bristol (section seven) two years before Norwegians came there, which was in 1847. The earliest settler, however, seems to be William G. Simons who entered in 1838. The first European settler in Perry Township
4450-569: The east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the south and southeast, and the Wabash River and Illinois to the west. Nicknamed "the Hoosier State", Indiana is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 states . Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis . Indiana was admitted to the Union as the 19th state on December 11, 1816. Various indigenous peoples inhabited what would become Indiana for thousands of years, some of whom
4539-412: The eastern part of Dane County. The spot where they stopped was about 2 miles (3.2 km) east of the site of the present village of Cambridge . Here a man by the name of Snell had shortly before established a tavern for trappers and frontiersmen; with him, the Voss party of homeseekers put up, and from him they received instructions as to the "government markings" of the sections and the stakes placed at
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#17330855712524628-434: The end of April and immediately took possession of the land selected. The land that had been chosen for Bystölen was inside the Christiana Township line, where Anders Finno also located. Nils Gilderhus's land lay within Deerfield Township; he was the first Norwegian to locate there. He built a log cabin, which was the first house in the town. Nils Gilderhus and Nils Bolstad soon after walked to Milwaukee and filed their claims at
4717-621: The end of the Ice Age . Divided into small groups, the Paleo-Indians were nomads who hunted large game such as mastodons . They created stone tools made out of chert by chipping, knapping and flaking . The Archaic period , which began between 5000 and 4000 BC, covered the next phase of indigenous culture. The people developed new tools as well as techniques to cook food, an important step in civilization. These new tools included different types of spear points and knives, with various forms of notches . They made ground-stone tools such as stone axes, woodworking tools and grinding stones. During
4806-573: The first settlement was made by Norwegians in 1840. The first settlers in the town of Rutland were Joseph Dejean, John Prentice, and Dan Pond, who located in its southern part in 1842. John Nelson Luraas may have been the first settler in Dunkirk; he came in 1843, and was followed soon after by John Wheeler, Chauncey Isham, and Mitchel Campbell. In the towns of Cottage Grove, Burke, Windsor, and Bristol, other pioneers preceded Norwegians by several years, as also in Blue Mounds, where Ebenezer Brigham located as early as 1828, or some 16 years before that part of
4895-426: The former location of the Jefferson Prairie Settlement and highlights the role of the Nattestads in its development. Indiana This is an accepted version of this page Indiana ( / ˌ ɪ n d i ˈ æ n ə / IN -dee- AN -ə ) is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States . It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to
4984-414: The government land office, Nils Gilderhus being the first in the party to purchase land. The date of the purchase was May 6, 1840; the land was the south half of the southwest quarter of section thirty-five. Nils Bolstad entered on 40 acres (16 ha) of section two in the town of Christiana, and Magne Bystölen's 40 acres (16 ha) lay directly east of Bolstad's in the same section. Their first habitation
5073-426: The latter part of the period, they built earthwork mounds and middens , which showed settlements were becoming more permanent. The Archaic period ended at about 1500 BC, although some Archaic people lived until 700 BC. The Woodland period began around 1500 BC when new cultural attributes appeared. The people created ceramics and pottery and extended their cultivation of plants. An early Woodland period group named
5162-588: The letters of Ole Rynning published. Ole Rynning (1809–1838) had been an early immigrant living in Beaver Creek, Iroquois County, Illinois . Rynning's work was published as True Account of America (Norwegian: Sandfærdig Beretning om Amerika ). The return trip of Ansten Nattestad to Norway was instrumental in promoting interest in America. Ansten Nattestad organized more than a hundred emigrants and led them to Wisconsin, arriving in September, 1839. Some joined Ole Nattestad at Jefferson Prairie; others settled in nearby Rock Prairie. The Jefferson Prairie Lutheran Church
5251-431: The lucrative fur trade. Fighting between the French and British colonists occurred throughout the 1750s as a result. The Native American tribes of Indiana sided with the French Canadians during the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years' War ). With British victory in 1763, the French were forced to cede to the British crown all their lands in North America east of the Mississippi River and north and west of
5340-448: The mid-15th century for reasons that remain unclear. The historic Native American tribes in the area at the time of European encounter spoke different languages of the Algonquian family. They included the Shawnee , Miami , and Illini . Refugee tribes from eastern regions, including the Delaware who settled in the White and Whitewater River Valleys, later joined them. In 1679, French explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle
5429-409: The northern and central regions of Indiana. Much of its appearance is a result of elements left behind by glaciers . Central Indiana is mainly flat with some low rolling hills (except where rivers cut deep valleys through the plain, like at the Wabash River and Sugar Creek) and soil composed of glacial sands, gravel and clay, which results in exceptional farmland. Northern Indiana is similar, except for
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#17330855712525518-425: The party, but these did not settle on Koshkonong. In the spring of 1840, these seven men decided to go north in search of homesteads. From Gilderhus and Bolstad they had received information of Koshkonong and they decided also to go there and inspect the locality. After reaching the southern line of Dane County, they stopped in Albion, near Koshkonong Creek. Here they found country that suited them. The Stavangerings, as
5607-434: The presence of higher and hillier terminal moraines and hundreds of kettle lakes . In northwest Indiana there are various sand ridges and dunes, some reaching nearly 200 feet in height; most of them are at Indiana Dunes National Park . These are along the Lake Michigan shoreline and also inland to the Kankakee Outwash Plain . Southern Indiana is characterized by valleys and rugged, hilly terrain, contrasting with much of
5696-432: The region was satisfactory to the rest. Bolstad, Gilderhus, and Himle started on foot for Milwaukee , a distance of a 150 miles (240 km). Having arrived there in safety, they procured maps and whatever information they could with reference to the regions that were open to settlement in the interior of the state. Then they walked west about 80 miles (130 km) inspecting the land on the way, and after two weeks, reached
5785-406: The settlement soon grew into Dunkirk and Pleasant Springs , and from the latter north into Cottage Grove , On the east it extended into Sumner and Oakland townships in Jefferson County. This settlement came to be known as Koshkonong Prairie, though properly the name applies only to the two first-named towns and adjacent portions of Pleasant Spring and Deerfield. The second settlement included
5874-503: The sloop in 1825; he was the only slooper who came to Wisconsin. Hornefjeld was also from the province of Stavanger, being born on Moster Island in 1806. He came to the U.S. in 1836, and settled in La Salle County, where he lived for four years. Kvelve also arrived in the U.S. in 1836; he lived mostly in Chicago and La Salle County. He had come from Vikedal Parish in Ryfylke. Three other men, Erick Johanneson Savik, Lars Scheie, and Amund Anderson Rossaland, intimate friends of Kvelve, were of
5963-455: The spring of 1841. The first pioneer settler in the town of Christiana was William M. Mayhew who came in 1837, and located on section twenty-eight. The next arrivals were Norwegians. The first settler in Pleasant Spring seems to have been Abel Rasdall, who located his cabin on the eastern shore of Lake Kegonsa, about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south of the inlet; the year of his arrival, however, may or may not have preceded Knut H. Roe. In Deerfield,
6052-435: The spring, Kvelve and Bjaaland moved to Koshkonong with their families. Dugstad came north from La Salle County about the same time as Kvelve and Bjaaland. Amund Hornefjeld married Ingeborg Johnson, widow of Erik Savik, in La Salle County, in June 1841, and they came north to Albion a few weeks later. Jefferson Prairie Settlement Jefferson Prairie Settlement was a pioneer colony of Norwegian-Americans located in
6141-444: The state was symbolized by the construction in 1909 of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway . In the 1920s, state politics was heavily influenced by the rise of the Indiana Klan . First organized in 1915 as a branch of the Ku Klux Klan , it appealed to white Protestants alarmed by social and economic trends, including changes induced by immigration from southern and central Europe. In the name of defending "hundred-per-cent Americanism",
6230-428: The state's founders initiated a program, the Indiana Mammoth Internal Improvement Act , that led to the construction of roads, canals , railroads and state-funded public schools. The plans bankrupted the state and were a financial disaster, but increased land and produce value more than fourfold. In response to the crisis and in order to avert another, in 1851, a second constitution was adopted. Among its provisions were
6319-497: The state, reaches depths at nearly 120 feet (37 m), while Lake Wawasee is the largest natural lake in Indiana. At 10,750 acres (summer pool level), Monroe Lake is the largest lake in Indiana. In the past, almost all of Indiana had a humid continental climate ( Dfb ), with cold winters and hot, wet summers; only the extreme southern portion of the state lay within the humid subtropical climate ( Cfa ), which receives more precipitation than other parts of Indiana. But as of
6408-545: The state. Here, bedrock is exposed at the surface. Because of the prevalent Indiana limestone , the area has many caves, caverns, and quarries. Major river systems in Indiana include the Whitewater, White, Blue, Wabash, St. Joseph, and Maumee rivers. According to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, as of 2007, there were 65 rivers, streams, and creeks of environmental interest or scenic beauty, which included only
6497-564: The subject of several songs, such as " On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away ", " Wabash Cannonball ", and " Back Home Again in Indiana ". There are about 900 lakes listed by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. To the northwest, Indiana borders Lake Michigan , one of five lakes comprising the Great Lakes , the largest group of freshwater lakes in the world. Tippecanoe Lake , the deepest lake in
6586-490: The time the Vossings were moving north to locate on their claims, Vindeig and Gjermund Knudson Sunde rowed a boat from Beloit northward along the Rock River, up Koshkonong Lake and Koshkonong Creek, into the town of Christiana. Vindeig, with his wife, Guri, and two sisters, moved from Jefferson Prairie via Milton, to Koshkonong, driving in a covered wagon, and proceeded to take possession of the land he had selected. He soon erected
6675-549: The townships of Burke , eastern Westport , Vienna , Windsor , and northwestern and central Bristol . The western portion of this settlement is generally known by the name of the Norway (or Norwegian) Grove Settlement, from the post office of that name in Vienna Township around which it lay. In its northern extremity, the settlement extended into Columbia County , northeast into Spring Prairie and Bonnet Prairie and northwest past
6764-467: The valley of Numedal in southeastern Norway , emigrated in 1837. Numedal is a traditional district located in the county of Buskerud , Norway. Together the Nattestad brothers played a key role in promoting immigration from Norway and for directing immigrants to southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Ole Knutson Nattestad first came to the Town of Clinton in 1838. Ansten Nattestad returned to Norway to have
6853-687: The village of Lodi . This whole region was in reality a northern extension of the Koshkonong Settlement. It was also from four to eight years later in order of formation. The third group of townships consisted of Primrose , Perry , Springdale , Blue Mounds , and that part of Verona Township which lay east of Blue Mound Creek. The genesis of the settlement of Koshkonong Prairie in Dane County, Wisconsin, dates from spring and summer 1840. Those who located there that year were Gunnul Olson Vindeg, Björn Anderson Kvelve ( Rasmus B. Anderson 's father), Amund Anderson Hornefjeld, Thorstein Olson Bjaadland (one of
6942-400: The war required steel, food and other goods the state produced. Roughly 10% of Indiana's population joined the armed forces, while hundreds of industries earned war production contracts and began making war material. Indiana manufactured 4.5% of total U.S. military armaments during World War II, ranking eighth among the 48 states. The expansion of industry to meet war demands helped end
7031-589: The war, exceeding five million by the 1970 census. In the 1960s the administration of Matthew E. Welsh adopted its first sales tax of 2%. Indiana schools were desegregated in 1949. In 1950, the U.S. Census Bureau reported Indiana's population as 95.5% white and 4.4% black. Governor Welsh also worked with the General Assembly to pass the Indiana Civil Rights Bill, granting equal protection to minorities in seeking employment. On December 8, 1964,
7120-560: The west. His success is often credited for changing the course of the American Revolutionary War. At the end of the war, through the Treaty of Paris , the British crown ceded their claims to the land south of the Great Lakes to the newly formed United States, including Native American lands. In 1787, the U.S. defined the Northwest Territory which included the area of present-day Indiana. In 1800, Congress separated Ohio from
7209-430: The western section the Indiana Territory . In 1816, when Congress passed an Enabling Act to begin the process of establishing statehood for Indiana, a part of this territorial land became the geographic area for the new state. Formal use of the word Indiana dates from 1768, when a Philadelphia -based trading company gave its land claim in present-day West Virginia the name "Indiana" in honor of its previous owners,
7298-607: Was John Brown of Indiana , who came into the town in 1846. A few other Americans (as B. K. Berry in 1847) preceded the Norwegians, whose coming dates from 1848. In the town of Primrose, Robert Spears and family were the first comers (1844); a few other Americans had also arrived there before Christian Hendrickson located in the town in 1846. Most of the immigrants from Voss, Norway , who came in 1839, located either in Chicago or in La Salle County, Illinois . Not all of those who went to
7387-454: Was a hurriedly built log cabin. This was replaced by a dug out cellar against an embankment where they lived during the remainder of the cold season. In this dugout, Nils Gilderhus and Magne Bystölen continued to live another year, but Nils Bolstad erected a log cabin in 1841, when he married Anna Vindeig, who was the first European woman in the locality. Gilderhus erected a cabin in Deerfield near
7476-545: Was chiefly via flatboat on the Ohio River westerly, and by wagon trails up the Wabash/White River Valleys (west) and Whitewater River Valleys (east). In 1810, the Shawnee tribal chief Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa encouraged other indigenous tribes in the territory to resist European settlement. Tensions rose and the U.S. authorized Harrison to launch a preemptive expedition against Tecumseh's Confederacy ;
7565-583: Was chosen because of its abundance of hardwood timber, the hay on the marshes, and good fishing in Koshkonong Creek nearby. Gilderhus, Bolstad, and Himle returned to Illinois by way of Milwaukee, remaining in La Salle County through the winter. Their account of the land of promise which they had discovered, aroused much interest, and brought others later. Early in the spring of 1840, Gilderhus and Bolstad, accompanied by Magne Bystölen and Andrew Finno, started for Koshkonong in wagons drawn by oxen. They arrived at
7654-482: Was defined by the Treaty of Fort Wayne in 1809, adding much of the southwestern lands around Vincennes and southeastern lands adjacent to Cincinnati, to areas along the Ohio River as part of U.S. territory. Settlements were military outposts such as Fort Ouiatenon in the northwest and Fort Miami (later Fort Wayne) in the northeast, Fort Knox and Vincennes settlement on the lower Wabash. Other settlements included Clarksville (across from Louisville), Vevay, and Corydon along
7743-563: Was later informed that it had already been taken, so Rossaland went to Jefferson Prairie, as did also Scheie. The whole party then returned to La Salle County, Illinois, and did not move to Albion Township and take possession of their land before the spring of 1841. Savik became ill upon their return to La Salle County where he died in June 1840. Savik and wife, Ingeborg, had emigrated from Kvindherred in 1836, locating in Rochester, New York before removing he following year to La Salle County. Early in
7832-498: Was organized in 1844. Pioneer Lutheran Minister, Claus Lauritz Clausen , accepted a call during 1846 from Norwegian-settlers at Jefferson Prairie. He relocated from the Muskego Settlement and made Rock County the center for his activities among the settlements in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, remaining until 1853. Clausen based part of his efforts from Rock Prairie, which he rechristened Luther Valley. During 1846,
7921-656: Was the first European to cross into Indiana after reaching present-day South Bend at the St. Joseph River . He returned the following year to learn about the region. French-Canadian fur traders soon arrived, bringing blankets, jewelry, tools, whiskey and weapons to trade for skins with the Native Americans. By 1702, Sieur Juchereau established the first trading post near Vincennes . In 1715, Sieur de Vincennes built Fort Miami at Kekionga , now Fort Wayne . In 1717, another Canadian, Picote de Beletre , built Fort Ouiatenon on
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