Finnish Ohioans

Numerous Ohioans are descended from Finnish ancestors.

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, millions of immigrants migrated to the United States of America, hoping to live the American Dream. Before the American Civil War, most immigrants arrived in the United States from Great Britain, Germany, and Ireland. By the 1880s, the home countries of immigrants began to change. Many of the new immigrants to arrive in the United States came from Eastern or Northern European countries, like Finland, Poland, Hungary, Lithuania, and Czechoslovakia, rather than from Western European countries, like Great Britain, Ireland, and Germany.

In 1860, 328,249 immigrants lived in Ohio. These people accounted for fourteen percent of the state's population. By 1900, the number of immigrants in Ohio rose to 458,734, but the percentage of the population that was foreign-born declined to eleven percent. Most of these immigrants in 1900 came from Germany, Great Britain, and Ireland, yet a growing number of Eastern and Northern Europeans were also migrating to the state.

In 1920, fewer than one thousand Finnish immigrants resided in Ohio. Most of these Finns settled along Lake Erie, especially in Cleveland, where they found low-paying jobs in factories or worked as day laborers. Many Finns also worked as tailors, domestics, sailors, or fishermen. Immigrants who were more successful established businesses that supplied their fellow migrants with traditional Finnish products. In 1930, approximately three thousand Finns lived in Cleveland alone, with Ashtabula, Conneaut, and Fairport Harbor also boasting sizable Finnish communities. In these cities, the Finnish immigrants tended to settle in their own communities, preferring to live among people who shared similar cultural beliefs and spoke the same language as they did.

Finnish immigrants congregated together partly out of camaraderie but also out of fear. During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many native-born Americans feared outsiders. Some of these people objected to the immigrants' religious and cultural beliefs, while others believed that the foreigners would corrupt the morals of United States citizens. These people also contended that the quality of life within the United States would decline, as there were not enough jobs to employ the millions of people migrating to America. Many native-born Americans hoped either to limit immigration or to force foreigners to convert to American customs and beliefs. The leaders of this movement were the Progressives of the late 1800s and the early 1900s. To accomplish their goals, the Progressives implemented numerous reforms, including settlement houses, which taught foreigners American practices. The Progressives also called for laws that would either limit or ban the cultural practices of recently arrived immigrants. It would take several generations before the immigrants became truly accepted by the vast majority of white Ohioans.

Most Finnish immigrants arrived in the United States prior to World War II. Over the succeeding decades, Ohio's traditional Finnish communities began to lose their cohesiveness. As other Ohioans became more tolerant of the Finns, many Finnish communities began to disintegrate. Many Finns moved into other communities, while non-Finns began to infiltrate the traditionally Finnish neighborhoods. Second and third generation Finns also preferred the more open and free lifestyle of Americans, causing the Finns to reject their traditional and more conservative customs and beliefs. Unlike most other national groups who migrated to Ohio, the Finns lost their cultural identity by the late twentieth century.