Wisconsin

Early Estonian and Latvian immigrants to America chose to go to the Gleason area in Wisconsin because it resembled the countryside of their homelands. That is also true for Finns, Swedes, Norwegians and Danes – many of the people today in Wisconsin, but also Minnesota and Michigan, are the descendants of Scandinavians. This legacy is maintained in cultural pinpoints, such as the oldest estonian church in America. 

Culture

Estonian: In the early twentieth century, Estonian families came to America in search of religious and political freedom. After an Estonian newspaper in New York reported that the terrain in Estonia most resembled the state of Wisconsin, Estonian-Americans moved to that area, where they held services in homes until 1907, when they purchased land to construct a church building that became the first Estonian Lutheran Church in America. 

Latvian 

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, a Latvian farm colony developed in Lincoln County, Wisconsin, USA. It was founded by Latvian emigrants from the Kurzeme and Kaunas governorates of the Russian Empire, who had recently migrated to the United States. It was one of the oldest and largest Latvian colonies in the USA. Most descendants have since left the area, but many stay in touch, and reunions are held in Lincoln County. The most recent one noted in your material was in 2013, when Latvian researchers visited. A website now documents the colony through family stories, old newspapers, church and census records, maps, and photographs.

In Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Latvian Cultural Foundation was founded in 1964 as the Latvian House of Milwaukee. Its Lynx Avenue building, built in 1969, served the community until 2020. The foundation now runs on its endowment and donations and offers scholarships and grants for Latvian cultural and educational programs.

Lithuanian 

Sheboygan is Wisconsin's oldest Lithuanian community, dating to the 19th century. Its Immaculate Conception parish, however, has largely lost its Lithuanian character. The original church was destroyed and replaced by a new building and school in 1960, when the parish was already becoming non-Lithuanian. The adjoining cemetery, acquired in 1929, is the state's only Lithuanian cemetery, and Lithuanian burials still predominate there. The older graves with more Lithuanian inscriptions are in Southside cemetery. Madison also has a sister-city relationship with Vilnius.

Academia

UW–Madison is a key member of the consortium that sponsors the Baltic Studies Summer Institute (BALSSI), an eight-week program of intensive Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian language study. The consortium has 12 U.S. universities, and hosting rotates among them. Madison hosted the year before 2011 and again in 2011, after which the program moved to the University of Pittsburgh for three years.

Economics

The chemical industry is currently the leading sector with the highest export volumes from Wisconsin to the Baltics. This includes chemical materials and also technical equipment. In 2019, exports of miscellaneous chemical products from Wisconsin companies to the Baltic states amounted to $3.2 million, of which the bulk ($2.7 million) was exported to Lithuania. Even with the pandemic, further opportunities in this segment exist, as the region’s imports of chemicals from Wisconsin continued to increase through July 2020.