Immigration and the Mill: A look at Swedetown

The Gilbert & Bennett’s mill village, “Swedetown,” was an enclave of Scandinavian heritage in Weston. Listen to Samantha Kulish-Fargione discuss the community’s lasting ethnic impacts.

This lecture will be co-sponsored by Weston History & Culture Center and presented by their executive director, Samantha Fargione. Around 1900, a large contingent of Scandinavian immigrants, nearly all of whom worked for the Gilbert & Bennett Wire Mill, established a community known as “Swedetown” in Weston. An enclave of Scandinavian ethnicity and heritage, the mill village was served by the Swedish Covenant Congregational Church, and two churches in Redding – a Swedish-Finnish Lutheran Church and the Gilbert & Bennett Memorial Church.

Co-Sponsor: Weston History & Culture Center

Destination: Georgetown, Part Four

Join us for a five-part lecture series, Destination: Georgetown, where we explore the impact of the Gilbert & Bennett Manufacturing Company on the development of Georgetown and surrounding towns.

The Destination: Georgetown lecture series will explore the lived experience of the Gilbert & Bennett Wire Mill complex in Georgetown and its involvement in the creation of “place.” Closed in 1989, the mill remains a landmark tied to the development of the area – the settlement of Swedish immigrants, education and the construction of a school, and the local labor movement. This lecture series will present a new look at the mill and help understand Georgetown as a place of cooperation and diversity.

Photo Courtesy of Elyse Shapiro Photography