In the fall of 1868, the first Swedish Agricultural Land Company set up business in a one-room company house (“Bolagshuset”) at the foot of Coronado Heights. The company gave “Lindsborg” its name on February 20, 1869. Soon the following spring, The Rev. Olof Olsson brought a group of 80 families from Värmland Province, in Sweden, to live as a new community. With settlements also promoted by the Galesburg Land Company – including Salina, Fremont, Salemsborg, Assaria, Falun, Marquette and Smolan – Lindsborg became the central Swedish town in the area. It wasn’t long before Swedish was heard as commonly as English in the Smoky Valley. By 1890, there were more than 17,000 Swedish-born settlers in Kansas, representing nearly 12 percent of the foreign-born population.
A lot has happened since. It will all be celebrated, in deliberative detail, during the community’s sesquicentennial (150th) anniversary in 2019. A committee and volunteers, with help from city hall, are certain to ensure a massive and fulfilling ceremony.
