In 1876, the Scandinavian Immigration and Aid Society forms in Seattle. The purpose of the society is to encourage migration to Seattle from Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden, Demmark, and Iceland).
There was a Scandinavian presence in Seattle at least by the mid-1870s. In 1875, a Swedish settler, Andrew Chilberg, arrived with his two brothers and opened a grocery store. In 1878, Chilberg was elected to the Seattle City Council. The following year, he was appointed vice-consul for Sweden and later became the King County assessor.
In 1892, Chilberg founded the Scandinavian-American Bank.
Sources:
Janice L. Reiff, "Scandinavian Women in Seattle, 1888-1900: Domestication and Americanization," in Women in Pacific Northwest History ed. by Karen J. Blair (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1988), 171.
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