|
|
Foreign-Born
Hoosiers
Foreign
immigration increased drastically during the late
19th century. Indiana did not attract as many foreign-born
settlers as the rest of the Northwestern states,
but still garnered a significant number. In 1850,
the state had 54,426 immigrants, but by 1860, that
number had grown to 118,184.(9) The
majority of these immigrants, about 56 percent,
were German. Germans started to migrate to the United
States in large numbers during the 1830s and continued
to immigrate throughout the century. Most of the
immigrants left for economic reasons, hoping to
find better farmland or jobs in America. Others
left because of religious persecution. The German
States were home to many different alternative religions
that led to persecution from the established Lutheran
Church. Drawn by the available farmland, German
immigrants largely settled in the Midwest. In Indiana,
Dubois County had the highest concentration of German
immigrants.(10) Vanderburgh, Posey,
Knox, and Dearborn also hosted significant concentrations.
Southwestern Indiana, along the Ohio River, became
a popular destination.
Irish
immigrants constituted the second largest immigrant
group in the state. They were attracted to Indiana
because of the plethora of canal and railroad building
jobs. The routes of the canals and railroad tracks
dictated Irish settlement, therefore, most settled
along the Wabash and Erie Canal and along railroad
lines. Indiana was home to very small numbers of
other immigrant groups. Welsh, English, French,
Canadian, Polish, and Italian immigrants were more
prominent during the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
but not when compared to the amount of German and
Irish immigrants. Southern and eastern Europeans
were drawn to the state by industrial opportunities,
but never in numbers comparable to other midwestern
locations, such as Chicago, Pittsburgh, or Detroit.
| Table 2: Indiana's
Foregn-Born Population, 1850-1920 |
|
Foreign-Born
|
1850
|
1890
|
1920
|
| Germans |
30,681
|
84,900
|
37,377
|
| Swiss |
735
|
3,478
|
2,334
|
| Irish |
13,667
|
20,819
|
7,271
|
| Welsh |
156
|
888
|
1,106
|
| English |
5,542
|
11,196
|
8,522
|
| French |
2,414
|
3,297
|
3,247
|
| Danish |
8
|
718
|
n/a
|
| Polish |
n/a
|
3,114
|
17,791
|
| Italians |
n/a
|
486
|
6,712
|
| Americans |
---
|
|
|
| Americans
born in another state |
400,000
|
|
|
Americans
born in Indiana
|
541,000
|
|
|
| African
Americans |
11,200
|
|
|
Indiana
did attract thousands of immigrants, but they never
amounted to more than ten percent of the population.
By 1920, 95 percent of Indiana residents were native
born, 97 percent were white, and 75 percent were
Protestant. For the most part, Indiana has remained
a homogenous, native, and white state.
Indiana in the 20th Century
In
Indiana, the first couple decades of the 20th century
were dominated by an increase in industrial development
and production. The city of Gary became home to
a United States Steel factory at the turn of the
century. Automobile production began in Indiana
soon after. Cars were built in more than forty cities
in Indiana. The most famous of the Indiana car companies
was Studebaker, which produced its first car in
1901. Indiana's steel and automobile manufacturing
history is remembered in the annual Indianapolis
500, a race that has taken place in the city since
1911.
An
event that has left a stain on Indiana's early 20th
century history was the rise of the Ku Klux Klan
(KKK) in the 1920s. The KKK made a comeback during
the 1920s as a nationalistic backlash to the increase
in foreigners, socialists, and anarchists. Like
the KKK of the 19th century, these people were white
supremacists; however, this time they extended their
hatred beyond African Americans to immigrants, Catholics,
and Jews. It is estimated that between 100,000 and
200,000 people in Indiana belonged to this discriminatory
organization. D.C. Stephenson, a Midwestern Grand
Dragon who became rich off of the business of selling
KKK robes and accessories, settled in Evansville,
Indiana in 1923. He led the organization in the
state until a scandal involving an affair and the
death of a woman caused him to resign. The Indiana
Klan declined thereafter.
The
Great Depression served as the dominant historical
event of the 1930s. Although northern Indiana was
heavily industrialized, the rest of the state was
largely agricultural; therefore, Indiana felt the
devastation of the collapse of both. Tens of thousands
of workers were left unemployed in the state, and
farmland was being foreclosed on at an alarming
rate. Indiana received relief through the many agencies
created by President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.
One of the first programs to aid Indiana was the
Civil Works Administration (CWA). Within a week
of its installment, over 26,000 people in the state
were employed by it. In total, the CWA employed
over 100,000 people in Indiana, helping them survive
through the cold winter of 1933-1934. The Works
Progress Administration (WPA) was another large
employer of Hoosiers during the Depression. Instated
in 1935, the WPA immediately put thousands of people
to work, and by 1940, had employed 64,700 of Indiana's
172,000 unemployed workers. The WPA workers were
largely responsible for the creation of the state's
infrastructure; roads, bridges, schools, and water
treatment plants were just some of the projects
they completed. The infrastructure created during
the Depression was essential in facilitating the
industrial growth that came during WWII.
During
World War II, Indiana's economy was stimulated immensely
by the demands of war production. The Calumet region,
a heavily industrialized area of northern Indiana,
was essential in providing war products, especially
oil. Many of the existing manufacturing plants switched
from producing consumer goods to producing war products.
Automobile, steel, chemical, and electronics plants
were often the first to be converted for war purposes.
The Dupont Company, with funding from the government,
constructed the world's largest powder plant in
Indiana. Defense spending increased profits for
the companies, allowing them to hire more workers.
By 1944, payrolls for war industries accounted for
nearly one-third of all of the jobs in the state.
Indiana
also contributed to the military aspect of the war.
Over 300,000 men and women from Indiana served in
the war, and over 10,000 died. More than two-dozen
army and navy training centers, camps, and depots
were built in the state. Camp Atterbury, a combat
training center and POW camp, Jefferson Proving
Ground, a testing site, and Crane Naval Ammunition
Depot were all built in Indiana during the war.
Military spending in Indiana created thousands of
jobs that stimulated the economy and lifted the
state, and nation, out of the depths of the Great
Depression.
Indiana's
location in the Northwest has made it home to list
of very interesting historical events, ranging from
the era of the Paleo-Indians, to the battle for
control between the French, British, and the Americans,
and ending with the development of the land as part
of the United States. Indiana boasts a unique balance
of industrialization and agriculture, strengthening
the state's economic diversity. Unlike other Northwestern
and Midwestern states, and despite its heavily industrialized
areas and ample farmland, Indiana has never been
home to large numbers of foreign immigrants. Indiana
serves as an example of natural increase and interstate
migration, being both home to American migrants
and producing a great deal of migrants to other
states. By examining the settlement of Indiana,
its rich history is unveiled and a deeper understanding
and appreciation of this Midwestern state's place
in the development of the United States can be better
understood and appreciated.
(9)Encyclopedia
of the United States, Indiana, (St. Clair Shores,
Michigan: Somerset Publishers, 1976), 64.
(10)Robert M. Taylor, Jr., and Connie
A. Birney, Peopling Indiana: The Ethnic Experience,
(Indianapolis: Indiana Historical Society, 1996),
623.
(11)Peckham, 142.
(12)
(13) James H. Madison, Indiana Through
Tradition and Change: A History of the Hoosier State
and Its People, 1920-1945, (Indianapolis: Indiana
Historical Society, 1982), 381.
|
