10th Finglish trip July 2010 #16
Workers’ movement marches and the ”Internationale” are performed in Finnish by the Finn Hall Band to a surprised American audience in a recently restored Finnish Hall at Sugar Island, Michigan. The Sugar Island Hall was built by labour movement hardliners in 1925 on land donated by Frank Kuusisto. The work was done with volunteer labor using locally grown and milled lumber.
The building lost its original purpose in the 1940s and reverted to the Kuusisto farm then became part of the Dewey Carlson farm in the early 1960s.The building was used to store farm equipment and materials and was source of lumber for other projects.
The Finnish settlement of Sugar Island started in 1914 when Gust Karppinen moved there, Frank Aaltonen came in 1915. In 1920 there were already 33 Finnish families on Sugar Island. Through the years there have been over 200 Finnish families living on Sugar Island.
Next Finnish Cemetery Sugar Island Michigan USA