The creation of the Virginia Shipbuilding Corporation in the late 1910s drew a large number of Scandinavian immigrants to Alexandria, Virginia. After Groton Iron Works defaulted on a contract in 1917, Virginia Shipbuilding entered into an agreement with the United States Shipping Board Emergency Fleet Corporation to complete twelve steel ships at a base price of $1,504,000 each.1 With the high demand for production, the Virginia Shipbuilding Corporation became a huge employment opportunity for skilled immigrants looking for work in shipbuilding. According to the Washington Times, the Alexandria shipyard was responsible for adding between 2,500 to 3,000 jobs to the area.2 As the 1920 US Census demonstrates, these employment opportunities attracted Scandinavian immigrants (Danes, Finns, Swedes, and Norwegians) to Alexandria.
In the census, we find that there were 110 first and second generation Scandinavians living in Alexandria in 1920. The tables below break down the employers of the 75 Scandinavian male immigrants of working age. The remaining 35 immigrants unaccounted for in this table were women and children who did not work outside the home.
Male Immigrant Jobs Broken Down by Nation of Origin in the 1920 US Census
|
Finland
|
Denmark |
Sweden |
Norway |
Shipyard
|
36 |
4 |
12 |
5 |
Unemployed
|
1 |
|
|
|
Fort Hunt
|
|
|
1
|
|
Carpenter(Buildings) |
|
|
|
1
|
Railroad |
|
1 |
|
|
Total # of each |
37 |
5 |
13 |
6
|
2nd Generation Male Jobs Broken Down by Birthplace in the US in the 1920 US Census
|
Wisconsin
|
Minnesota |
Michigan |
New York |
Ohio |
Main |
Iowa
|
Shipyard
|
3 |
2 |
2 |
|
3 |
1 |
1 |
Electric Co.
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
US Shipping Board |
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
Total # of Each |
4 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
1
|
As the tables above show, 69 out of the 75 employable first and second generation Scandinavian Americans were working at the shipyard in 1920. In breaking the numbers down further, we find that 37 were first generation immigrants from Finland, 13 from Sweden, 6 from Norway, and 5 from Denmark. Of the second-generation males, 12 out of 14 were born in the Midwest–4 from Wisconsin, 3 from Ohio, 2 from Michigan, 2 from Minnesota, and 1 from Illinois. The remaining two Scandinavian Americans were from New York and Maine. While the overall proportion of Scandinavians at the Virginia Shipyard would have been relatively small if the estimate of 3,000 employees is correct, these men still represented a huge surge in Scandinavians in Alexandria unseen in previous decades. The men made up 61% of the total Scandinavian population of Alexandria and out of the 29 different addresses with a first or second generation Scandinavian resident, 19 of them had at least one member working at the shipyard. These 19 households were often the residence of the wives, children, or other dependant household members who had accompanied the shipyard workers, further increasing the population of Scandinavian Americans in Alexandria.
These jobs, however, despite being a huge pull factor for Scandinavians to Alexandria, Virginia, were short lived. By 1922, the Virginia Shipbuilding Corporation was facing bankruptcy and lawsuits from the United States Shipping Board. The shipyard closed, and these men lost their jobs.3 By the 1930 US Census, we see a drastic drop in the number of Scandinavian Americans in Alexandria. While the census does display the same number of Scandinavian American working age males, these men were not the same as those found in 1920 and they were not the children of those immigrants who came in the 1910s to work in shipbuilding. Furthermore, as shown in the tables below, we see a shift in their occupations.
Immigrant Jobs Broken Down by Nation of Origin in the 1930 US Census
|
Finland |
Denmark |
Sweden |
Norway |
Carpenter |
|
1 |
2 |
2
|
Unemployed
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
Railroad
|
|
1 |
|
2
|
Teacher |
|
1 |
|
|
Chauffer
|
|
|
1 |
|
Pattern Maker
|
|
|
1 |
|
Doorkeeper
|
|
|
|
1 |
Cabinet Maker |
|
|
1 |
|
Merchant |
|
|
|
1
|
Total # of each |
0 |
4 |
6 |
6
|
2nd Generation Jobs Broken Down by Birthplace in the US in the 1930 US Census
|
VA |
MN |
NJ |
KS |
TX |
MD |
SC |
PA |
CT |
MA |
Laborer
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Electric Co.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
Motor Co. |
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
Government |
|
|
|
1 |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
Laundry
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Railroad
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Daily Paper
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
Private Firm |
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Building + Loans |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
Undertaker
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sign Factory |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1
|
Contractor
|
|
|
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Clerk |
1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Total # of Each |
4 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1
|
Compared to the 75 working age first and second generation male immigrants in the 1920 census, the 1930 census only contains 30. Of these 30, 16 are first generation while 14 are Scandinavian Americans. Out of the 16 first generations immigrants 4 were Danish, 6 were Swedish, 6 were Norwegian, and most notably, there were no Finns. The distribution of jobs changed as well with 5 Carpenters, 3 Railroad workers, 2 Unemployed, and the last 6 divided amongst a variety of professions. The Scandinavian Americans also display a wider distribution of birth locations as well as jobs. Of the 14 working age males found in the 1930 census, only 3 hail from the Midwest; 2 from Minnesota and 1 from Kansas. The remaining 11 include 4 from Virginia and 1 from each of the following: New Jersey, Texas, Maryland, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. These men’s jobs cross a wide range of professions, which suggests the acquisition of new skills that the first generation immigrants did not have. We also see an increase in the employment of women. While some women, like most in the 1920s census, remained unemployed, others acquired a variety of jobs. Whether with local stores, in laundry, dressmaking, or as is most prevalent, with the United States Government, Scandinavian first and second generation women enjoyed an increase in both their employment status and opportunities.
No longer were immigrant families and their children arriving to Alexandria for “typical” Scandinavian jobs. Instead, the end of the ship building industry in Alexandria brought about a change in the Scandinavian American population. After most of the shipyard workers had left in order to find jobs elsewhere, a new group arrived. While the first and second generation immigrants who lived in Alexandria in the late 1910s and early 1920s participated in the development of the city’s “brighter future,” later individuals who came by the 1930s would find a different labor market.4 This labor market, despite its noticeable lack of appeal for most first generation Scandinavian immigrants, would provide a larger opportunity for Scandinavian Americans, both male and female.
1 Virginia Shipbuilding Corp v. United States, 22 F.2d 38 (4th Cir. 1927). https://casetext.com/case/virginia-shipbuilding-corp-v-united-states (accessed October 17, 2014).
2 “Those Alexandria Jokes Won’t be Appropriate in Vaudeville Anymore” The Washington Times, June 16, 1919. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84026749/1919-06-16/ed-1/seq-5/ (accessed October 17, 2014).
3 “Morse and Eleven Associates Indicted by U.S. Grand Jury,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, February 2, 1922. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045389/1922-02-28/ed-1/seq-1/ (accessed October 18, 2014).
4 The Washington Times, June 16, 1919.