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Attraction to
Elizabeth
What was there about
the community that it attracted Danube Swabian
immigrants to go there? What were the early
years like?
By 1870, the
population of Elizabeth had grown to 20,832. It’s
location near New York coupled with opportunities
for employment in its iron foundries, stove works,
oil cloth, glass works, shear works and the bustling
docks of a major port had already drawn a sizeable
number of Irish and German immigrants. Then in 1873,
Isaac M. Singer moved his sewing machine
manufacturing company from New York City to
Elizabeth. The site was located at the port, where
materials for production could be easily received by
ship and the product could be quickly sent on its
way to anywhere in the world. It was also directly
served by the Central Railroad of New Jersey and its
access to the interior of the country. For almost
110 years, the Singer Manufacturing Co. (Singer’s)
was the most important employer in the city. In some
families, every working male was employed there, for
several generations. By 1900, when the Donauschwaben
immigrants from Hungary began to arrive in
Elizabeth, the population of Elizabeth had more than
doubled to 52,130. By 1930, it had doubled again, to
114,589.
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