# Do you have "Little German Towns" or similar in your area/country? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 26, 2020, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-little-german-towns-or-similar-in-your-area-country/919040 "2020-08-26T06:55:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-little-german-towns-or-similar-in-your-area-country/919040/41 "2020-08-27T08:34:51Z")
> [@Mesquite-oh](#): > > I would think a savvy land guy would get a group of his countrymen together and say “Here is some fertile farmland being sold in Iowa, if we put all our money together, we could buy it and divide it up among us.” There was a lot of that kind of thing in the 19th century, although the exact financial arrangement among the settlers differed from place to place. They didn’t always have a promoter, for example. But the US ran out of unsettled areas of fertile farmland of sufficient size to do that about 1910. And even earlier, say around 1890, there wasn’t that much left in most states. So later immigrants mostly settled in cities. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2020, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-little-german-towns-or-similar-in-your-area-country/919040/42 "2020-08-27T16:17:12Z")
> [@Mesquite-oh](#): > > I wonder why other ethnicities/immigrants never settled into their own towns and instead chose to go to the big cities. I have seen Russian and Chinese neighborhoods, but not towns. It doesn’t take a lot of people to get a town started. I would think a savvy land guy would get a group of his countrymen together and say “Here is some fertile farmland being sold in Iowa, if we put all our money together, we could buy it and divide it up among us.” From what I could tell from what I read about Slovaks in Cleveland, people had to come to big cities to work and no one was getting rich (the previous European immigrants were the ones who had established themselves as business owners). The extra money they had went back home to Europe, and to building local churches and community centers. During WWI and WWII money was sent to organizations trying to help their countrymen dealing with war. I saw no indication in the books I’ve read that anyone had any money to pool together to not only buy land but to also build houses and businesses and provide services such as utilities and safety forces. They struggled to just build and maintain their own churches in the city. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-little-german-towns-or-similar-in-your-area-country/919040/43 "2020-08-28T18:35:06Z")
> [@Mesquite-oh](#): > > I have seen Russian and Chinese neighborhoods, but not towns. I’ve heard of a Chinatown in San Francisco but I’ve no idea if it’s for real or not.\* Is that what you mean? I wonder if there are more Chinatowns… like maybe in LA or NYC? . \*c’mon… YOU know… ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-little-german-towns-or-similar-in-your-area-country/919040/44 "2020-08-28T18:53:42Z")
Chinatown actually predates the official establishment of San Francisco by about two years. There’s also a much smaller Japantown. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-little-german-towns-or-similar-in-your-area-country/919040/45 "2020-08-28T19:01:28Z")
> [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](#): > > I wonder if there are more Chinatowns… like maybe in LA or NYC? Wikipedia has a list. > **[Chinatowns in the United States](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatowns_in_the_United_States)** > > Chinatowns are enclaves of Chinese people outside of China. The first Chinatown in the United States was San Francisco's Chinatown in 1848, and many other Chinatowns were established in the 19th century by the Chinese diaspora on the West Coast. By 1875, Chinatowns had emerged in eastern cities such as New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred Chinese immigration to the United States, but the Magnuson Act of 1943 repealed it, and the population of Chin... ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-little-german-towns-or-similar-in-your-area-country/919040/46 "2020-08-28T19:15:03Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Chinatown actually predates the official establishment of San Francisco by about two years. There’s also a much smaller Japantown. I know, I live in SF. Sorry about my lame kidding around. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-little-german-towns-or-similar-in-your-area-country/919040/47 "2020-08-28T19:18:22Z")
That was mainly for the benefit of @Mesquite-oh. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-have-little-german-towns-or-similar-in-your-area-country/919040.md?page=2)