Now at least 250,000 strong, the Dutch in greater Chicago have lived for 150 years "below the radar screens" of historians and the general public. Here their story is told for the first time. In "Dutch Chicago" Robert Swierenga offers a colorful, comprehensive history of the Dutch Americans who have made their home in the Windy City since the mid-1800s. 
The original Chicago Dutch were a polyglot lot from all social strata, regions, and religions of the Netherlands. Three-quarters were Calvinists; the rest included Catholics, Lutherans, Unitarians, Socialists, Jews, and the nominally churched. Whereas these latter Dutch groups assimilated into the American culture around them, the Dutch Reformed settled into a few distinct enclaves — the Old West Side, Englewood, and Roseland and South Holland — where they stuck together, building an institutional infrastructure of churches, schools, societies, and shops that enabled them to live from cradle to grave within their own communities. 
Focusing largely but not exclusively on the Reformed group of Dutch folks in Chicago, Swierenga recounts how their strong entrepreneurial spirit and isolationist streak played out over time. Mostly of rural origins in the northern Netherlands, these Hollanders in Chicago liked to work with horses and go into business for themselves. Picking up ashes and garbage, jobs that Americans despised, spelled opportunity for the Dutch, and they came to monopolize the garbage industry. Their independence in business reflected the privacy they craved in their religious and educational life. Church services held in the Dutch language kept outsiders at bay, as did a comprehensive system of private elementary and secondary schools intended to inculcate youngsters with the Dutch Reformed theological and cultural heritage. Not until the world wars did the forces of Americanization finally break down the walls, and the Dutch passed into the mainstream. Only in their churches today, now entirely English speaking, does the Dutch cultural memory still linger. 
"Dutch Chicago" is the first serious work on its subject, and it promises to be the definitive history. Swierenga's lively narrative, replete with historical detail and anecdotes, is accompanied by more than 250 photographs and illustrations. Valuable appendixes list Dutch-owned garbage and cartage companies in greater Chicago since 1880 as well as Reformed churches and schools. This book will be enjoyed by readers with Dutch roots as well as by anyone interested in America's rich ethnic diversity.

Dutch Chicago: A History of the Hollanders in the Windy City (Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America (HSRCA))

History

Swierenga, Robert P.

Americas

Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.

Holland, Michigan: From Dutch Colony to Dynamic City is a fresh and comprehensive history of the city of Holland from its beginnings to the increasingly diverse community it is today. The three volumes that comprise this monumental work discuss such topics as the coming of the Dutch, the Americans who chose to live among them, schools, grassroots politics, the effects of the world wars and the Great Depression, city institutions, downtown renewal, and social and cultural life in Holland. Robert Swierenga also draws attention to founder Albertus Van Raalte’s particular role in forming the city -- everything from planning streets to establishing churches and schools, nurturing industry, and encouraging entrepreneurs. Lavishly illustrated with nine hundred photographs and based on meticulous research, this book offers the most detailed history of Holland, Michigan, in print.

Holland, Michigan: From Dutch Colony to Dynamic City, vols. 1-3 [3 Volume Set] (Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America (HSRCA)) (Volume 80)

Eerdmans

Between 1800 and 1880 approximately 6500 Dutch Jews immigrated to the United States to join the hundreds who had come during the colonial era. Although they numbered less than one-tenth of all Dutch immigrants and were a mere fraction of all Jews in America, the Dutch Jews helped build American Jewry and did so with a nationalistic flair. Like the other Dutch immigrant group, the Jews demonstrated the salience of national identity and the strong forces of ethnic, religious, and cultural institutions. They immigrated in family migration chains, brought special job skills and religious traditions, and founded at least three ethnic synagogues led by Dutch rabbis.
The Forerunners offers the first detailed history of the immigration of Dutch Jews to the United States and to the whole American diaspora. Robert Swierenga describes the life of Jews in Holland during the Napoleonic era and examines the factors that caused them to emigrate, first to the major eastern seaboard cities of the United States, then to the frontier cities of the Midwest, and finally to San Francisco. He provides a detailed look at life among the Dutch Jews in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and New Orleans. This is a significant volume for readers interested in Jewish history, religious history, and comparative studies of religious declension. Immigrant and social historians likewise will be interested in this look at a religious minority group that was forced to change in the American environment.

The Forerunners: Dutch Jewry in the North American Diaspora (American Jewish Civilization)

Wayne State University Press

An analytical study of Dutch immigrants & the patterns of their immigration & settlement in the U. S. during the nineteenth & early twentieth centuries.

Faith and Family: Dutch Immigration and Settlement in the United States, 1820-1920

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Holmes & Meier Pub

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Swierenga, Robert P.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Swierenga, Robert P.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Swierenga, Robert P.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Dutch Chicago: A History of the Hollanders in the Windy City (Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America (HSRCA))

Holland, Michigan: From Dutch Colony to Dynamic City, vols. 1-3 [3 Volume Set] (Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America (HSRCA)) (Volume 80)

The Forerunners: Dutch Jewry in the North American Diaspora (American Jewish Civilization)

Faith and Family: Dutch Immigration and Settlement in the United States, 1820-1920