ANSWERS: 1
  • While sharing in the history of northeast Wisconsin, Little Chute has been influenced by two unique factors: the portages along the Fox River and the coming of NetherlandsDutch-Catholic settlers in 1848. Prior to and during the early European settlement, the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway to the Mississippi River system was one of the most heavily traveled routes between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Riveri. The series of rapids along the Fox River near Little Chute necessitated canoe portages, leading to establishment of Menominee Native Americans in the United StatesNative American village, Ookicitiming (“causeway” in Menominee languageMenominee)ii and later European trading posts. Afterward canals and locks would be built to circumvent these rapids. The actual construction of these features would provide employment to settlers, the Dutch among them, although the canal system would never prove to be a great successiii. Early Native American tribes in area included the Ho-Chunk, or Winnebago; Menominee; and the Sac (tribe)Sauk or Fox, for whom the river was named. The first Europeans to the area were the French. Jean Nicolet reached the Fox at the Bay of Green Bay in 1634 and set up a trading post. Explorers Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet passed through the area in 1673, following the canoe route to the Mississippi. As early as 1760, the families of Augustin and Charles Grignon, French Canadian Métis, established a fur trade post along the rapids. While French influence would wane, it can still be seen in local place names, particularly waterways. Locally the three major rapids on the Fox were named “La Grand Kauklin” (near Grignon’s trading post at present day Kaukauna, WisconsinKaukauna), “La Petite Chute” (present day Little Chute) and “La Grand Chute” (still the name of the Grand Chute, Wisconsinadjoining township). The singular person in the establishment of Little Chute as a Catholic Dutch-American community was a Dominican orderDominican missionary: Father Theodore J. Van de Broek. Born to wealthy parents in Amsterdam, Netherlands in June 1784, he had relatives in Uden, Noord Brabant, Netherlands and apparently spent time there as a youth. He was highly educated and fluent in six languages. He was ordained a priest in 1808 and joined the Dominican Order in 1817. After a period as a pastor in the Netherlands, he left in 1832 at the age of 49 to join other missionary priests at Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1834 he was ordered to Green Bay, WisconsinGreen Bay to an established Dominican mission. In Green Bay he met the Grignon family, and probably through this contact he went to La Petite Chute in 1836. There he built the first church for the Menominee Indians, St. John Nepomucene, one of several he would establish in the area. Father Van de Broek also met Morgan L. Martin, who was in charge of the local canal project. Father Van de Broek purchased land in the area which he later hoped to selliv. In that same year, 1836, the Menominees signed the “Treaty of the Cedars” which required them to give up title to the local land and move beyond the Wolf River (Fox River)Wolf River to the west.v Father Van de Broek began to write letters about the area to groups in the Netherlands. The letters appeared in the Roman Catholic paper, “De Tijd” (The Times) beginning in 1843vi. In the summer of 1847 Father Van de Broek went back to the Netherlands to settle his parents’ estate. The settlement was not very beneficial and he found himself nearly destitute. As St. John Nepomucene parishioners were significantly reduced after the Treaty of the Cedars, he used the trip as an opportunity to again write in De Tijd, advertising the mission, the land at La Petite Chute and employment opportunities associated with the Fox River Canal, which included free passage to America for workers. The results were immediate and, by 1848, three wooden sailing vessels, the Libra, the Maria Magdalena and the America, had been booked for passage to the east cost of the United States. Most of the early emigrants were from villages near Uden, including Zeeland, Boekel, Mill, Oploo and Gemert. The Dutch economy of the era was stagnant and much of the motivation to emigrate was economic. The emigrants were not poor, as the cost of passage, expenses and land purchase in Wisconsin would have been substantial. They were not, however, affluent and many would have been risking most of their wealth on the chance of economic improvement. There were also political pressures at the time that favored mass emigrations of Catholics. vii viii ix. Typical passage to La Petite Chute included passage across the Atlantic from Rotterdam to New York City, a train trip from there to Albany, New YorkAlbany, a train or Erie Canal-barge trip across New YorkNew York state to Buffalo, New YorkBuffalo, steamship travel through the Great Lakes and Bay of Green Bay to the head of the Fox River at Green Bay, WisconsinGreen Bay and finally a 30-mile, ox-cart trip to the mission at La Petite Chute. The first group from Rotterdam arrived on May 22, 1848, led by a Franciscan missionary, Fr Adrianus D. Godthard x. Father Van de Broek’s group, held up by an ice jam on Lake Michigan, arrived on June 10, 1848xi. The emigrants would have discovered not plowed fields and a village but forested land, being somewhat misled by wording of the De Tijd advertisements: the word “acres” was translated as “akkers,” meaning cultivated land. There was also not enough good land in Father Van de Broek’s holdings for all the emigrants. There was a resort to drawing straws, with the winners naturally picking the best lotsxii. Many of the others - led by Cornelis van de Heij, a farmer from Zeeland, and Father Godthard - left to form the village of Holland, Brown County, WisconsinHolland (usually referred to locally as “Hollandtown”)xiii rather than buying the remainder of Father Van de Broek’s land. There were other Europeans, mainly French and Irish emigrants, already established at La Petite Chute, now also known by its semi-anglicized name of “Little Chute”. A few Native Americans still lived in the area. Despite the hardships, including the death of Father Van de Broek in 1851, the village prospered. Waves of Catholic Dutch emigrants followed from all over the Netherlands, with whole families and neighborhoods moving to join family and friends already established in Little Chute, Hollandtown and the outlining farming communities. It is estimated that, by 1927, as many as 40,000 Dutch Roman Catholics had immigrated to the area – an average rate of 10 per week for 80 years. xiv From the start, St. John Nepomucene Church served as a focal point, although other churches would soon spring up in the other communities. The first settlers would have devoted all energies to clearing land, planting, building small homes and barns, fencing and raising livestock. The private Fox River Canal was a failure. The State “Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Company” took over operations in 1850 and finished the canal in 1856xv. Railways approached from the south and steamship lines were established on Lakes Michigan and Lake WinnebagoWinnebagoxvi. The 16 feet of water head at La Petite Chute and other falls was used for mills, a practice that continues. By the 1860 Census, a post office (listed as Little Chute) was established. In 1898 the fiftieth anniversary of the founding was commemorated and the surviving “48’ers” recognizedxvii. In 1898, residents of La Petite Chute petitioned the State of Wisconsin for incorporation as the Village of Little Chute, which was formally granted on March 8, 1899. While there are several other Dutch American cities – Oostburg, Wisconsin, Pella, IowaPella and Sioux Center, Iowa and Holland, Michigan - these were largely settled by Protestants. Little Chute and some surrounding area was largely settled by Catholics. By the early twentieth century it was the largest Catholic Dutch community in the United States.xviii. Little Chute remained a Dutch-speaking community - known locally as “speaking Hollander” - into the twentieth century. As late as 1898, church sermons and event announcements were in Dutchxix. Dutch newspapers continued in the area – mainly in De Pere by Catholic clergymen - were published up until World War Ixx . Speaking Dutch as a first language was common in the area among 2nd and 3rd generation even as late as World War IIxxi. The Dutch festival of Sinterklaas was celebrated as “St Nick’s Day” (December 5) until the late 1960s. St. John Nepomucene was the primary educational institution with the local public high school not opening until 1966xxii. Little Chute has celebrated the Dutch festival of Kermis annually since 1981 - after a long hiatus dating back to the early twentieth century - possibly the only such named event in the United Statesxxiii. St. John Nepomucene is a thriving parish with recent additions to the church and elementary school. The village has embarked on an ambitious project to build a full-scale working windmillxxiv as a museum and tourist attraction. Today, while many homes are decorated with windmills and Dutch figurines, the use of the Dutch language and day-to-day culture has all but discontinued. The Dutch-only culture has been replaced with a multi-cultural community, with relatively large Hmong peopleHmong and Hispanic populations. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Chute%2C_Wisconsin

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