Arts and Humanities Commons^™

The Wisconsin Swiss: A Portrait, Ernest Menolfi, Leo Schelbert

Swiss American Historical Society Review

Few regions of the United States of North America have attracted as many Swiss as did the State of Wisconsin. It registered their steady increase among its foreign-born until 1920, and its southern region became well known for its Swiss American presence. Yet the Swiss remained throughout a rather small group among Wisconsin's people. The 1850 U. S. census, for example, counted a total of 304,756 inhabitants; of these 54,312 were born in Wisconsin, 139,166 in other parts of the Union, and 110,471 were foreign-born; among these 1,244 Swiss were counted (the nativity of 807 people remained 1 unknown).