Wickney House

Wickney House. Heritage Park, Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum. , Overview , The Homestead Act of 1862 made government land taken from Native Americans available for free if it was used for five years. This law allowed millions of European immigrants to settle in the prairies and woodlands of the central United States during the 19th century. Anders Vikne built this house on his homestead near Northwood, North Dakota in 1879 after immigrating to America from Norway.

. Originally in rural Northwood, North Dakota , . Original home was 14 x 16 feet , . 1994.098.001 , Gift of Ruth Wickney.

, Anders Vikne built this house on his homestead near Northwood, North Dakota, in 1879. The main part of the house is about the same size as the log houses elsewhere in Heritage Park. He added the lean-to on the back of the house to accommodate his wife Berthe, who, in about 1895, lost her leg to cancer. Berthe was the daughter of the farmer in northeast Iowa who Anders had worked for as a newly arrived immigrant. This house was built with two-by-four studs instead of logs, likely because large trees were scarce on the prairie. , Anders Vikne, who went by Andrew Wickney in America, followed a path similar to many Norwegian immigrants in the mid- to late 19th century. He came first where friends or relatives were or had been, and then continued west and north where land was available for purchase. Dane County, Wisconsin; Spring Grove, Minnesota; and Decorah were important hubs where newcomers first came to rest or work and restock before continuing on to more permanent homes. , The Homestead Act of 1862 made government lands available for free if, after five years, the claimant had improved the land with a house and farm fields. Immigrants who had applied for citizenship, like the Wickneys, and women were eligible. Black men and women were also eligible, but discrimination by officials and neighbors prevented most African Americans from successfully claiming a homestead. This and subsequent homestead laws were only possible because the U.S. government had forcibly removed Native Americans from their ancestral land. , Railroads, which were instrumental in the settlement of the Great Plains and the West, built towns and sold land. They marketed to immigrants by hiring agents who were immigrants themselves and through advertisements in foreign-language newspapers. , Norwegians came to every state. Brooklyn, New York; Seattle, Washington; and Bosque County, Texas, were well-known settlements. The largest numbers came to the rural Midwest. Through the Homestead Act, one-fifth of the farmland in North Dakota in 1914 was owned by people of Norwegian birth or descent. Norwegians also settled in cities, especially Chicago and Minneapolis.