Czechs and Slovaks in Colorado, 1860-1920

Czechs and Slovaks in Colorado, 1860-1920

BY M. JAMES KEDRO*

Czechoslovakia is located in the strategic heartland of central

Europe. Not until 1918, however, did it become a unified, independ-

ent nation, when World War I gave Czech and Slovak nationalists the

opportunity to throw off the yoke of Austro-Hungarian domination.

For almost four centuries Czechoslovakia's largest provinces-the

Czech lands of Bohemia and Moravia and their eastern neighbor

I

Slovakia-had been under the control of the Austrian Hapsburg monarchy and a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Slovakia had experienced Hungarian (Magyar) control for 800 years before it finally

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gained independence. The Czechs and Slovaks, West Slavs who

comprise just two of the ten major Slavic nationalities, are closely

I

related ethnically and linguistically. Yet, for a millennium preceding the birth of their republic, they had been politically and culturally

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separate. Deprived of self rule, subjected to the suppressive racial policies of Germanization and Magyarization, economically exploited,

and obliged to serve in Austrian and Hungarian armies, these particu-

lar Slavic peoples had a multitude of reasons for leaving their home-

lands .1

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For re!iearch assistance. Dr. Kedro is indebted 10 Andrew Kutes of Denver, whose articles on Colorado Czech!\ and Slovaks we re publi shed during 1976 in lhe Chicago-based. Slovak language weekly. Peoples' Nell's.

1 Dozens of accounts in English treat Czech and Slovak hi story. For condensed. background readi ng see Kami! Krofla. A Shorr History of C:;.echoslovakia (New York: Robert M. McBride & Co .. 1934); Thomas S Harri~on. C::.echoslomkia iri ?uropea11 History. 2d ed. (Princeton. N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1953): Joseph M. Kirschbaum. Slo\'Clkia: Nation at the Crossroads of Europe (New York: R. Speller. 1960); Jo!.eph A. Mikus. Slomkia arid the Slo\?aks (Washington, D.C.: Three Continents Press. 1977). A nine[ecnth-century view by a Bohemian patriot. publi!.hed in a midwestem American magazine, is L. J . Palda. "Bohemia's Strugg le for Home Rul e." Mid/arid Morithly [Des Moines. lowaj 5 (February . March 1896):128-39. 275-79. A guide 10 early English language writing s on 1he Czechs is Tho mas Capek and Anna Vos1rovsky Capek. Bohemia" (Cech) Bibliography: A Firidirig list of Writings in English Relating to Bohemia and 1he Cechs (New York: Fleming H. Revell [ 19181 ). For broader investigations of the Slavic nationalities. see Marija Gimbutas, The Slavs (New York: Praeger. 1971 ); Roger Portal. The Slm?s: A Cultural and Historical Survey of the Slm?onic Peoples, trans. Patrick Evans (New York: Harper & Row. 1969). An exceptional collection of published works on Slavic -.ettlement in the United States. with many uncataloged primary sources pertaining 10 Colorado, is found in the Slavic Heritage Collection. Southern Colomdo State University Library. Pueblo. Colorado.

94 THE COLORADO MAGAZINE LIY/2 1977

From the mid-nineteenth century to the early 1900s, Czechs

migrated to the United States in increasingly large numbers. They

were followed by a mass movement of Slovaks from the 1880s

through the First World War. Some of these immigrants eventually

discovered political freedom and economic opportunity in Colorado.

Often they came to the Rocky Mountains from older ethnic com-

munities Chicago,

located in Saint Louis,

American cities like and Omaha. Others

mPigitrtastbeudrgfhr~mCnleuvmeelraonud~

Slovak centers of settlement in Pennsylvania and New Jersey or from

the heavily Czech populated states of Iowa, Nebraska, and Texas. 2 On

occasion they moved directly from Austria-Hungary to Colorado. The

economic inducements to the region included mining coal and precious

metals, working for the Denver and Pueblo smelters, and farming on

the Colorado high plains. Early Czech settlers were generally well

educated and brought with them a skill, a trade, or some business

acumen . Slovaks of hardy peasant stock came from a province rich in

mineral resources and agricultural lands.

While only of secondary importance, the environment also played

some part in Czech and Slovak settlement in Colorado. Prague, the

Czech and Bohemian capitol city, and Bratislava, the Slovak capitol,

stand in close proximity to scenic and unspoiled natural terrain. To the

west of Prague is the Bohemian Forest, a thickly wooded, mountain-

ous region that separates Czechoslovakia from Bavaria. In eastern

Slovakia, the Tatra Mountains, although less titanic, bear a striking

resemblance to Colorado 's Rocky Mountains. When asked today why

they chose to settle in Colorado, many first-generation Czech- and

Slovak-Americans will reply , " It reminds me of my homeland. " 3

Czechoslovakia was occupied and partitioned by Nazi Germany in 1939; it establi shed a Communist government in 1948 . These events contributed to migration to the Uni1ed States. including Colorado . but they are beyond the scope of this study. 2 Writings on Czechs and S lovaks in the United States are exlensive. For example. see Thomas Capek. Cechs (Bohemians) in America: A Srudy of Their National, Cu/111ral. Political . Social. Economic, and Religious life (New York: Houghton , 1920): T . Capek and Thomas Capek, Jr.. The Czechs and Slovaks in American Banking (New York: t-lemmg H. Revell. [ 192~ ): t-ranc1s Uvom1k , t::.ech t.ontnbutwns to the urowth o; the ?!nited States. (Chicago. 111. : Benedicune Abbey Press, 11962?1 ). A useful early-century treatment of Slavic imm igrants in America is Emily Greene Balch . Our Slan'c Fellow Citizens (New York: Charities Publication Commi uee. 1910).

For comparison. a few studies dealing !-ipecifically wi1h Czec h and Slovak se ul eme nt in American comm un ilies are Es1elle Hudson in coll aboration wilh Henry R. Maresh. C::.ech Pioneers of the Southwest (Dall as. Tex .: Southwes1 Press . I 1934j ): Rose Rosicky, A History of C::.echs (Bohemians) in Nebraska (Omaha: Czech HiMonca l Socie1y of Nebraska, 1929): R.W. Lynch. C::.ech Farmers in Oklahoma (Stillwater: Oklahoma Agncullural and Mechanical College. 1942): Josef J. Barton. Peasants and Stran gers: 110/ians. Rumaniuns. and Slo\'tlk..\ in an American City. /8 ................
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