Cleng Peerson Memorial Highway - Norway, Illinois - Illinois Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

Three different plaques can be found at The Norwegian Settlers Memorial, located in Norway, Illinois.

The first one, dedicated in 1934, celebrates the centennial of the arrival of the first group of Norwegian Immigrants to USA.

The second one, dedicated in 1975, celebrates the 150th Anniversary of Norwegian Immigration to USA.

The third one, dedicated also in 1975, celebrates the leader of the Norwegian Immigration to USA, Cleng Peerson. A highway is dedicated to him: Cleng Peerson Memorial Highway. The waymark is about this plaque.

The Norwegian Settlers Memorial, located in Norway, Illinois, is the official memorial of the U.S. state of Illinois maintained in honor of immigrants from the European country of Norway. The memorial celebrates the arrival, in 1834, of a pioneering band of farm-seekers led by the peripatetic ethnic leader Cleng Peerson. Peerson's vessel, the Restauration, is often credited with bringing the first group of immigrants from Norway to the young United States. Scandinavian farm life had been devastated in 1816 by the Year Without a Summer, and younger sons and daughters from farm families in northern Norway were looking for new opportunities.
At the time the Memorial was dedicated, many of the descendants of the Peerson band were still farmers working the land their ancestors had taken up in 1834. Today, the Memorial is an unstaffed historic site of the Illinois Historic Preservation Age. It is located by the roadside of Illinois Route 71 in Norway, 9 miles (14.5 km) northeast of Exit 93 on Interstate 80 in rural northern Illinois.

Source: Wikipedia

Text on the marker:

CLENG PEERSON MEMORIAL HIGHWAY
ON OCTOBER 17, 1975, THIS HIGHWAY WAS DEDICATED AS
A MEMORIAL TO CLENG PEERSON, PATHFINDER OF
NORWEGIAN IMMIGRATION, LEADER OF THE SLOOP
"RESTORATION". HE LEFT STAVANGER, NORWAY ON JULY 4,
1825, AND ESTABLISHED THE FIRST PERMANENT NORWEGIAN
COMMUNITY IN NORTH AMERICA AT NORWAY, ILLINOIS.
FROM HERE NORWEGIAN FAMILIES MIGRATED TO COMMUNITIES
THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES.

County: LaSalle Historical Society: Department of Transportation, Illinois Dedication Date: 1932 Location: Norway, Illinois Website: [Web Link]

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