HISTORY

historia

1000 A.D. Early Explores
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Leif Eriksson

Nordic people have been making trips to the Americas since the tenth century. Viking explorer Leif Eriksson who led the first European expedition to our continent somewhere around the year 1021 A.D.¹  Viking explorers were some of the first inhabitants of North America, after the Indigenous people of the west.

1840 Fast Foward
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Scandinavian Immigrants

More recently — a little, anyway — there was a massive exodus from Scandinavia in the 1840s.2 Political instability and agricultural disaster made everyday life, well, unlivable for a lot of Scandinavians, so they came here, to America.

They settled mostly in the Midwest, and you can really see their influence in places like Minnesota and North Dakota, where they built Lutheran churches, got married in fancy gowns, and built “hybrid Scandinavian-American cultures.”3

1890-1910 Oregon Bound
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Moving West

But they didn’t all stay there. A lot of Nordic people kept on west.4

They migrated to Oregon mostly between 1890 and 1910, thanks to the completion of the railroad.5 After surviving the summer droughts6 and grasshopper plagues of the Midwest, they were looking for a place that felt a little more like home. They found it in the Pacific Northwest.7

1902 Junction City
Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019
New Beginnings

In 1902, the real estate developer Anders Christian Nielsen founded a Danish settlement here in Junction City.

He divided 1,600 acres into smaller parcels and advertised them in a Danish newspaper in Iowa, drawing immigrant families to the Willamette Valley. And so our community put down its Scandinavian roots.8

1902-1951 Culture
Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019
Danish Foundation

Danish settlers with the help of Anders Christian Nielsen founded Faith Lutheran Church,9 which held services in Danish through 1951. Up to 20 percent of Junction City residents today still have Danish roots.

1960 Road Less Traveled
Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019
Crossroads

Junction City got its name from a railway intersection that never happened — but in 1960, the city’s fate was threatened by another thoroughfare, Interstate 5. Leaving Hwy. 99 less traveled and reducing the economy of Junction City.

1961 Välkommen
Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019
The 1st Festival

In 1961, after the freeway cut us off from visitors, Gale Fletchall (and many other Junction City residents) organized our first Scandinavian Festival. Four thousand were expected. Ten thousand came.

Gale Fletchall set the date of Festival for the second weekend of August, after scanning the Farmer’s Almanac for the weekend least likely to rain. He was right!

1979 Traditions
Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019
Hallmark Moment

"By this time Junction City’s Scandinavian Festival had become one of the main identities for the town. 100 miles to the north in Portland, an historic steam locomotive that had originally been given to that city by the Finnish consulate was looking for a new home. Applications were submitted from around the state for communities that were willing to fund land and build a shelter for it. A committee was formed to try and raise enough money and apply for the gift, and Junction City was selected for the honor in 1979. A park was built around the shelter, and at a large ceremony became one of the hallmarks of the town.

At the 1980 Scandinavian Festival a ceremony was held to install the locomotive in it’s new park at 5th and Holly."

Excerpt by: Tri-County Chamber

1. Christopher Klein, “The Viking Explorer Who Beat Columbus To America,” History.com (n.d.). https://www.history.com/news/the-viking-explorer-who-beat-columbus-to-america

2. “Scandinavian Immigration,” Library of Congress (n.d.). http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/presentationsandactivities/presentations/immigration/scandinavian.html

3. Scott Gordon, “How Scandinavians Transformed The Midwest, And The Midwest Transformed Them Too,” WisContext (n.d.). https://www.wiscontext.org/how-scandinavians-transformed-midwest-and-midwest-transformed-them-too

4. Lyman Stone, “Is the Pacific Northwest Overwhelmingly Nordic?” Medium: In a State of Migration (n.d.). https://medium.com/migration-issues/is-the-pacific-northwest-overwhelmingly-nordic-3b32878403a3

5. Robert Donnelly and Joshua Binus, “Scandinavian Immigration,” The Oregon History Project (2004, 2005). https://oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/scandinavian-immigration/#.XKabK_3Qi35

6. Robert Donnelly and Joshua Binus, “Norwegian Rosemaling,” The Oregon History Project (2004, 2005). https://oregonhistoryproject.org/articles/historical-records/norwegian-rosmaling/#.XKacWP3Qi35

7. Janet Lynn Baisinger, “Nordic immigrants in Portland, 1870-1920: The First Fifty Years,” PDXScholar: Portland State University (1981). https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4105&context=open_access_etds

8. “About Junction City, Oregon,” Eugene, Cascades & Coast (n.d.). https://www.eugenecascadescoast.org/junction-city/about/#

9. “Faith Lutheran Church (Junction City, Oregon),” Wikipedia (n.d.). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faith_Lutheran_Church_(Junction_City,_Oregon)