Liechtensteiner Americans (german: Liechtensteineramerikaner) are
Americans
Americans are the Citizenship of the United States, citizens and United States nationality law, nationals of the United States, United States of America.; ; Although direct citizens and nationals make up the majority of Americans, many Multi ...
of
Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...
descent.
History
The first Liechtensteiner emigrants of which we have record immigrated to the United States in the early 1830s. However, the first great wave of Liechtensteiner emigrants arrived in the United States on April 7, 1851, settling in
; and in 1852 another group immigrated to
Dubuque, Iowa (including stonemasons, bricklayers and carpenters). Eventually, many of the Liechtensteiner immigrants to Dubuque left that city and got farms nearby. However, the Liechtensteiner emigration was markedly reduced during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
(1861-1865). Later, when the construction of railroads began "tying the country together and opening up the West", other Liechtensteiners immigrated to the United States to work in the construction of railroads.
During the following decades, many other Liechtensteiners immigrated to places such as
Guttenberg, Iowa and
Wabash, Indiana
Wabash is a city in Noble Township, Wabash County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 10,666 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Wabash County.
Wabash is notable as claiming to be the first electrically lighted cit ...
. However, between 1885 and 1907, Liechtensteiner emigration was markedly reduced, limited to a few individuals and families. Less than 30 Liechtensteiners immigrated during that period to the United States. Reducing migration was due to the significant increase in economic activity derived from the establishment of the first textile factories in the 1880s.
The
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
caused an economic crisis in Liechtenstein (which originated, among other things, because the Entente allies stopped the "import of raw materials" into the country and the "massive speculation by the national bank"), so the Liechtenstein immigration to the United States was retaken. Most of the new Liechtensteiner emigrants settled in urban areas, especially in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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and
Hammond, Indiana
Hammond ( ) is a city in Lake County, Indiana. It is part of the Chicago metropolitan area, and the only city in Indiana to border Chicago. First settled in the mid-19th century, it is one of the oldest cities of northern Lake County. As of the ...
, but there were Liechtensteiners throughout the country.
After the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, a few more Liechtensteiners immigrated to the United States, the largest number arriving in 1948, when fifteen individuals or families came to this country. The reduction of the Liechtenstein emigration was due to improvements in the economic conditions of Liechtenstein.
[Norbert Jansen (16 June 2002)]
Principality of Liechtenstein (FL): Emigration to America (volume 1)
Consulted on 17 May 2017.
Notable people
*
John Latenser Sr.
John Latenser Sr. (1858–1936) was an American architect whose influential public works in Omaha, Nebraska, numbered in the dozens. His original name was Johann Laternser.
Many of the buildings Latenser designed, including public and private, ...
See also
*
Liechtenstein–United States relations
References
European-American society
Liechtenstein diaspora
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