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Settling Down
or Moving On
There was a
major depression in 1908 which saw large numbers of the
immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Empire either returning
home when the work was slack in 1909 or migrating elsewhere.
For many of the Danube Swabians that would mean Milwaukee,
Wisconsin in particular.
The men and
family groups in the various ethnic groups sought social contact
with one another and did so in various ways but primarily
through their churches, grocery stores and butcher shops
operated by their own and saloons whose proprietors catered to
them.
In July of 1917
the Pennsylvania Steel Company announced that it had sold the
steel mills in Steelton to Bethlehem Steel. In the 1920s the
population sank to about 13,000 and remained at that level
during the Great Depression.
The Danube
Swabian population also appears to have gone into decline
primarily due to migration to other communities in search of
employment, while other families moved out of Steelton into the
surrounding communities to escape from the industrial pollution
and grime created by the steel mills. The 100th
Anniversary 1888-1988 booklet of Trinity Evangelical Lutheran
Church in Steelton provides an overview of its history but it is
notable that only a few familiar Danube Swabian family names
appear among the current membership that is listed. That could
either be a result of intermarriage or the “Americanization” of
family names, i.e. the März family is now apparently Marts.
Only a few family names are recognizable such as Faul, Marts,
Koller, Weiss, Shenfelt (Schönfeldt), Stark, Enders, Arndt,
Krahling, Schneicker, Scheib and Dorman (Dürrmann) But during
the 1930s especially large numbers of the original families
resided in nearby Enhaut and Sharon or moved into Harrisburg
where a large Danube Swabian community flourished at that
time.
In many ways,
the majority of the Danube Swabians who arrived in Steelton as
their destination on coming to the United States were simply
passing through and left few traces behind of their sojourn
there, except for the descendents of those who remained, many of
whom in the future would have no knowledge or recollection of
their Danube Swabian heritage beyond knowing their families were
of German origin.
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