Volga German immigrants first arrived in the Jefferson Park area of northwest Chicago in 1894. They came from Stahl am Karaman. Beginning in 1903, other groups followed from Schwed, Enders, and Rosenheim. Mayfair, the unofficial neighborhood which overlaps from Jefferson Park into the neighborhood of Albany Park to the east, was also settled by Volga Germans.
The central business district of Jefferson Park along Lawrence and Milwaukee Avenues was the hub of the Volga German community for years. Over time, descendants of the original immigrants moved to the outlying suburbs of Maywood and Melrose Park.
According to Sallet, there were about 450 Volga German families living in the area of Jefferson-Mayfair in 1920, most of whom were from the Wiesenseite.
The following Volga German families settled in the Jefferson Park / Mayfair neighborhood of Chicago:
Altergott from Schwed
Baumgartner
Beck
Beller
Biel
Billing
Bisterfeldt from Nieder-Monjou
Block
Bolger from Schwed
Borgard from Schwed
Brandt
Burghardt
Christ from Schwed
Clausser from Holstein
Conrad
Debus
Dietzel from Rosenheim
Dotz from Enders
Eberly from Mariental
Ehlert
Eurich
Felde from Krasnoyar
Fink
Flemming from Enders
Friedrich from Schwed
Gittler
Gorr from Reinwald
Hall
Hart from Enders
Hauk
Heintz
Henneberg from Rosenheim
Herzog
Hilgenberg from Philippsfeld
Hoppe
Horst
Hubert
Jacoby
Jager / Yeager
Jurk
Kramer
Kraus from Reinwald
Letterer from Katharinenstadt
Lutzow from Enders
Markus from Schulz
Metzler from Dobrinka
Niederquell from Schulz
Nieson
Oelberg from Enders
Olberg from Kukkus
Pauli
Pfeifer
Rettig
Rieb
Riemer from Krasnoyar
Ritter
Roehrig from Paulskaya
Rosh
Rupp from Schwed
Sauer
Scheck from Franzosen
Schleicher from Krasnoyar
Schmidt
Schneider from Enders
Schnell
Schweigert from Schwed
Schwenk
Seibel
Seiler
Sittner
Spies from Krasnoyar
Ulrich
Walter from Rosenheim
Weigel
York
Ziegler
- Sallet, Richard. Russian-German Settlement in the United States (Fargo, ND: North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, 1974): 56.
Map showing the location of Jefferson Park in relation to Chicago's other neighborhoods.
Source: Jefferson Park, Chicago (wikipedia)
Map of Jefferson Park.
Courtesy of the Jefferson Park Historical Society.
Zion Church in Jefferson Park.
Courtesy of the Jefferson Park Historical Society.