words. I am teaching my mother to read. When I am at school, my mother looks up the meanings of the words in a Finnish dictionary, so that she sees the words in both languages and learns to pronounce them. I have tried to do my part to make the `Speak English' campaign a success.""

Other activities : The first interest in music became apparent in the 1880s. A former cantor-organist, Pekka Westerinen from Kiuruvesi in Finland, had organized the first Finnish chorus in America in Calumet, Michigan in 1884 and had moved on to New York Mills in 1886 to start both a mixed chorus and a male chorus there. By May 1887 his groups were ready to present, as the posters claimed, "A Grand Concert in Finnish by the K. K. Chorus, composed of Peter Westerinen, Leader, and 25 Trained Voices, Assisted by Prof. Ormsby's Orchestra," and by July Westerinen was ready to leave the community because Astoria, Oregon offered him more money. In more recent years there was another chorus, the "Aalto", which Frans Tuomi conducted in the 1920s. Finns were members of the New York Mills brass band, of course, and John Castren was its conductor at one time.

Cultural activity in the area was also fostered by the Order of Kaleva chapters. The Ladies', Katajatar chapter was founded in 1914, including as its earliest members Lyydia Ahola (Haarala), Elizabeth Hyry, Tekla Lake (Kela), Maria Lind, Olga Nylund, Anna Peterson (Matala) and Ida Piilola. However, the order ceased activity in 1919, and the Knights' chapter in New York Mills had an even briefer period of activity.

However, New York Mills has also been the scene of Finnish midsummer festivals for all Northern Minnesota, both in 1920 and 1924, with both occasions attracting thousands of participants. Further, in 1942, a festival was held under the initiative of a group which later participated in the work of the Minnesota Finnish-American Historical Society. Even before this, however, it had become clear that the younger generation of FinnishAmericans was aware of the contribution their elders had made and was prepared to acknowledge its debt : a sturdy granite slab erected in the Central Park has a bronze plaque, giving in Finnish and English the text written by Adolf Lundquist:

"To the memory of the Finnish pioneers who arrived in this region in 1874 and the years following, and whose courage, perseverance and faith led to the settlement of New York Mills and its vicinity.

11. Duluth and St. Louis County, Minnesota, Their Story and People. By American Historical Society. Vol. I, Chicago and New York, 1921. p. 334

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