Russian immigrants in Seattle number 5,000 on February 17, 1925.

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On February 17, 1925, Russian immigrants in Seattle number approximately 5,000. They are refugees who left Russia after World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution, and are mostly well-educated professionals. Although they form a tight-knit community around the Greek-Russian Orthodox church on Lakeview Boulevard, they crowd into night classes to study citizenship and English.

The spiritual center of the community is Father Nickolai Metropolsky who was born San Francisco and trained as a priest in Russia. Under his guidance, the immigrants prepared a "Russian Evening" on February 20, 1925. The production of Russian music, vaudeville acts in native costume, and dancing benefited employment programs for new arrivals and construction of a new church.

The Russian Gazette was published weekly in Seattle beginning in 1925, with the first page in English and the rest in Russian.

The most frequently heard question from the immigrants is, "How can I find book about American citizen? I want become American and I must read this book" (The Seattle Sunday Times).

Sources:
"Seattle Colony of Thrifty Folk From Russia," The Seattle Sunday Times, National Weekly Section, February 17, 1925, p. 5.

By David Wilma, October 09, 2001

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Father Nickolai Metropolski, 1925
Courtesy Seattle Public Library