Sons of Norway Headquarters
Introduction
Text-to-speech Audio
Norwegian immigrants founded the Sons of Norway (Sønner av Norge) in 1895 as a fraternal benefit society. The original purpose of the organization was to protect its members and their families from financial calamities that arose with the sickness or death of a family's breadwinner.
"In those bygone days, few immigrants had a working knowledge of the American language. As strangers, they entered a promised but alien land. In order to cope with their new situation they felt compelled to seek out their own national group in the frightening vastness of the American city," writes Sverre Norborg in his history of the organization.[1]
This clearly met a need among immigrants, and the organization grew. Another lodge was formed in South Minneapolis in 1899. The third was founded in northeast Minneapolis in 1900.[2]
Gradually, the organization’s mission grew to include cultural preservation. With more than 50,000 members, it is the largest Norwegian cultural organization outside Norway.
Images
Sons of Norway Oslo Lodge #1-2 was the second lodge founded in Minneapolis.
The former Sons of Norway headquarters on Lake Street in Minneapolis was built in 1962 and was sold for demolition in 2017.
Backstory and Context
Text-to-speech Audio
More context to come.
Sources
[1] Norborg, Sverre. An American Saga. Minneapolis, Minnesota. Sons of Norway, 1970.
[2] Carl H. Chrislock, Ethnically Challenged: The Upper Midwest Norwegian-American Experience in World War I. (Northfield, Minn.: Norwegian-American Historical Association, 1981), p. 19.
Photograph of Oslo Lodge, circa 1930, P0591, Sons of Norway and Daughters of Norway papers, 1907-2004, Norwegian-American Historical Association, naha.stolaf.edu.
Wikimedia Commons user: Jonathunder