Friday, Oct. 9th, 2025 is a red letter day for Norwegian-Americans in North Iowa. To the very day, it is the 200th anniversary of the arrival of the first boatload of Norwegians to the United States. It is the bicentennial of the start of one of the greatest mass migrations in history. It is how North Iowa was settled. It is why there are so many Norwegian Lutheran churches and communities stretching from Lake Michigan to the Pacific Northwest.
On July 4, 1825, the schooner Restauration left Stavanger, Norway with 52 passengers on a one way trip to the Port of New York. The wind-powered vessel reached New York on Oct. 9, 1825. One newborn was added on route. No one died on route. Over the next one hundred years, almost 900,000 of their countrymen followed and thousands and thousands found their way to Iowa.
This bicentennial has already been celebrated with coffee parties in Belmond, a Kumla feed in Thor, a gala banquet in Lake Mills, parades in Decorah and Spring Grove and scores of events nationwide. Indeed Crown Prince Haakon of Norway will be in Decorah to celebrate the anniversary in October…