This interactive map shows a belt of seven Swedish settlements stretching across 37 miles of Clay, Riley, and Pottawatomie Counties: Swedesburg, Bodaville, Walsburg, Randolph, Mariadahl, Cleburne, and Olsburg. (Select the links above to read more Chapman Center research on these settlements.) The Kansas Swedish Settlement Belt map was researched by fall 2015 intern Kevin McKeon and compiled by 2015-16 graduate research assistant Katie Goerl using Esri StoryMaps and ArcGIS products.
View Map Here
Bogart, Jim; Brannan, Roger; Setterquist, Doris; Setterquist, Charles; and Tippin, Doug. The Rural Schools of Riley County Kansas. Kansas: Hawley Printing Services, 2004.
Bruntzel, Melvin D. Quick Reference to Kansas, Lost – Found – Missing – Towns and Places with Selected Trivia and Truths. Belleville, Kansas: The Print Schop, 2010.
Kansas Historical Society. “Flood of 1951.” Last modified July 2011. https://www.kshs.org/kansapedia/flood-of-1951/17163.
“Post Offices,” Kansas Historical Society, accessed December 7, 2015.
Riley County Kansas. “History of Riley County.” Accessed November 17, 2015. http://www.rileycountyks.gov/441/History-of-Riley-County.
Cleburne, Riley County, Kansas. 1907. Special Collections, Wichita State University Libraries.
Dezurko, Edward R., “Early Kansas Churches,” Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 6 (1947).
“The Swedish Immigrant and Life in Kansas.” Kansas Historical Society. Last accessed Dec 12, 2015.
Mariadahl Steeple. Olsburg Exploration,Get Rural Kansas. Accessed November 20, 2015.
“Olsburg History,” Get Rural Kansas, accessed Nov 25, 2015.
Landscape, Olsburg, and Settlers. Olsburg, Kansas, Historical photos. http://www.olsburgks.com
Slagg, Winifred N., Riley County, Kansas. Manhattan: Winifred N. Slagg, 1968. Available at Riley County Genealogical Society.
Clay County Heritage Book Committee. Clay County, Kansas: Heritage Book, 1990. Clay County, KS: Clay County Historical Society, 1990. Copy available at Clay County Museum, Clay Center, Kansas.
First Lutheran Church (Swedesburg), Dedication May 18, 1975. Copy available at Clay County Museum, Clay Center, Kansas.
Henrickson, M.A., Seventy-Fifth Anniversary 1871-1946. Copy available at Clay County Museum, Clay Center, Kansas.
Bogart, Jim, Brannan, Roger, Setterquist, Doris, Setterquist Charles, Tippin, Doug. The Rural Schools of Riley County Kansas. Kansas: Hawley Printing Services, 2004.
Walsburg Lutheran Centennial Committee. Walsburg Lutheran Church, Leonardville Kansas 1873-1973. n.p.: n.p., 1973.
After the Fire of 1918. Walsburg Lutheran Church, Leonardville , Kansas, 1873-1973. Riley County Genealogical Society
Parsonage. Walsburg Lutheran Church, Leonardville , Kansas, 1873-1973. Riley County Genealogical Society.
Return to Cartography Page
