Svea Land Colony
The Company
The Svea Land Colony organized in Chicago, Illinois in 1896. Some names the company used were Svea Land Koloni, Svea Land Colony, Svea Land and Imps Association, Svea Land Colony Co, Silverhill Land Colony, and Svea Land Company.
|
The first meetings were held at 1153 Western Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Later the headquarters were moved to 112 South Clark Street in Room 512 of the Chicago Opera House Block building until 1904, then to Room 410 from 1905 to 1908.
|
The ten story Opera House held a theater and 240 offices. The building was erected in 1885 and demolished in 1912 to make way for a modern skyscraper.
|
The 1908 Chicago business directory.
|
A page from the 1908 Chicago business directory shows some of the Chicago Opera House Building offices. In Room 410 is the Svea Land Colony Co, the Telma Gold Mining Co, and C A Vallentin real estate all with the telephone number of 79. Vallentin worked with both companies.
Advertisements for the company ran in many newspapers in several states targeting mostly Swedish-speaking people. The ads began about 1898 and continued until 1906 when a hurricane destroyed many homes in the Silverhill area.
|
Omaha-Posten from Omaha, Nebraska
Svea Land Koloni ad ran May 26, 1898; June 9, 1898; June 16, 1898 in this paper.
|
Minnesota Stats Tidning of Minneapolis, Jan. 17, 1900
Svea Land Koloni ran ads from 1900 to 1903 in this paper.
|
In an affidavit dated April 2, 1928, in the Probate Court of Baldwin County, Alabama, Oscar Johnson stated that the Svea Land Company, which operated in Baldwin County, was a partnership comprised of three men, himself, C. A. Vallentin, and C. O. Carlson. He goes on to say that, the Svea Land Company did not own any land in their own right, but that it operated as an agent for others. He also stated that he was the local agent and by 1928, the Svea Land Company had ceased to operate.
AFFIDAVIT
Click here to see a PDF File of the 1928 Document 
Visit the pages below to continue reading about the Svea Land Colony.
Written by Debbie Owen
December 2022
Resources
Ernst Wilhelm Olson, History of the Swedes of Illinois, Part II. (Engberg Holmberg Pub. Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908)
U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management, The Official Federal Land Records Site. Images of federal land title records issued since 1820.
https://glorecords.blm.gov/
|
