Sons of Norway, founded on January 16, 1895, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is a fraternal organization representing people of Norwegian heritage in the United States and Canada. Our mission as to promote and to preserve the heritage and culture of Norway, to celebrate our relationship with other Nordic Countries, and provide quality insurance and financial products to our members.
Professor C. Sverre Norborg begins his fine history of Sons of Norway, an American Saga, with this descriptive paragraph:
“The founders of Sons of Norway were Americans. They had crossed the wide Atlantic in search of greater opportunities for themselves and their families. From the day they passed through the immigration gates at Ellis Island, they knew that their lives and fortunes were linked forever with this vast and free land.” This is the strong thread which runs through much of the Sons of Norway story: a love for the land of their birth but at the same time a fierce loyalty to their new land.
The history of Sons of Norway could be described as one of steady and deliberate progress. By the 1870s, Minneapolis had a very active nucleus of Norwegian emigrants, many of whom had come from the Trondheim area to form a colony in the northern part of the city. From that group came the 18 founders who signed on as charter members of Sons of Norway.”