C.S.P.S.125

Since 1887

Early Bohemian immigration

Michael KartakIn 1858, Tomáš Mareš, a Čech, arrived in St. Paul then moved to LeSueur County. He was followed by Josef Trnka and Tomaš Herauf into St. Paul, and descendents of these early pioneers still live in St. Paul and its metropolitan area.

When Michael Karták came with his family to St. Paul on September 8, 1860 there were about six families living south of the Upper Landing, a place later referred to as the Upper Levee. As was common in other cities of the Midwest, namely Chicago, the first job the new arrivals from Bohemia were usually able to secure was cutting wood for the winter. Karták, a man reputed to have formidable strength, was an exception when he found a job as furrier within days of his landing. He came upon two men who were trying clumsily to beat a wolf's skin, took the instrument from the less skilled, and proved his ability.

One of them spoke to him in English: “I shook my head to show him I did not understand. Then he spoke in German, and that went better. He asked me who I was and what I was doing, and when I had explained my predicament he promised that he would find me work with a furrier, which he did, and I began working immediately.” So he did not have to start as a laborer as others did, and could practice his trade. Two events in this story help us understand the relative success of many Čech immigrants in America. It is often forgotten that the Čechs, having been closely connected to the German-speaking cultures of Austria and Germany for centuries, very early joined the massive wave of German emigration, and often settled side by side with the Germans and were able to communicate in the new country with members of an ethnic group that was large and significant enough to provide access to better paying jobs in the trades.

Upper LandingThe Bohemian community on the Upper Levee was growing throughout the 1860s although the Čechs did not remain there long. The city directory of 1880 lists six families on the flats: Benda, Hamr, Hazuka, Štěrba, Tůma, and Vondra. By the end of the 1880’s the majority of them had moved up to the West 7th Street neighborhood, and the area on the river flats was left to the Italians who made their presence there visible and long enough so that the place is now known mostly as St. Paul’s former Little Italy. When Karták wrote his account in 1885 he estimated that there were about 300 Čech families in St. Paul at that time. According to research by Karleen Chott Sheppard, the city directory of 1880 lists 257 names (of which 241 were residents of the West 7th area) that are almost indisputably of Čech origin. In addition, many ethnic Čechs to this day have German (and Italian!) surnames, so the total number of St. Paul’s inhabitants at the beginning of the 1880s, who or whose parents came from the territory of Bohemia, was most likely much higher than the number of all family members who belonged to the 257-300 families indicated by the city directory and Karták.

By the end of the 1880’s, the Čech community in the West 7th area had established its own institutions—taverns, shops and stores, fraternal halls (Bohemian Benevolent Society “Slovanská Lípa” (Slavic Linden Tree), C.S.P.S. Lodge #12 “Čech”) gymnastic organization (Sokol), churches (St. Stanislav and Cyril Congregational), a free-thought society, a dance hall, school and more. The neighborhood was a lively place charged with a distinctive character featuring strong cultural traditions brought by the Bohemians from their native land (upon his debarkation, Michael Karták recognized the first of his fellow countrymen by his dress).

Based upon Karták, Michael, Autobiography, Amerikán Národní Kalendár (American National Annual), 1886; and Karleen Chott Sheppard—Čechoslovaks (Bohemians): Earliest Settlers in the West Seventh Street Area, St. Paul, 1979; Early Čech Settlers in Minnesota: Biographies and translations from Amerikán Národní Kalendá, 2002.
Our Website histories:

Early "Bohemian" immigration | Establishing St. Paul's C.S.P.S.  | CSPS Hall's chronology |
Histories from the C.S.P.S. Centennial 1987 | Czech and Slovak Sokol Minnesota chronology |
History from the Sokol centennial 1982 | Immigrant philosophical convergence | Circa 1892 flag |
1908 photograph of 58 Sokol fitness members