History of the Czechs in Baltimore

The history of the Czechs in Baltimore dates back to the mid-19th century. Thousands of Czechs immigrated to East Baltimore during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, becoming an important component of Baltimore's ethnic and cultural heritage. The Czech community has founded a number of cultural institutions to preserve the city's Czech heritage, including a Roman Catholic church, a heritage association, a festival, a language school, and a cemetery. During the height of the Czech community in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Baltimore was home to 12,000 to 15,000 people of Czech birth or heritage. The population began to decline during the late 20th century, as the community assimilated and aged and many Czech Americans moved to the suburbs of Baltimore. By the early 1990s, the former Czech community in East Baltimore had been dispersed.

By 1870, there were approximately 1,000 Czech Catholics in Baltimore. Within a decade that number increased to over 5,000. In 1870 there were 766 Bohemian-born residents of Baltimore, making Bohemia the third largest source of immigration to Baltimore after the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Germany.

According to the US Immigration Office, the Baltimore Czech community numbered around 10,000 people between 1882 and 1910.

In the 1920 United States Census, there were 7,750 Czechs, making Baltimore the fifth largest city for Czechs in the United States. Only Chicago, New York City, Cleveland, and St. Louis had larger Czech populations. In the same year 3,348 people spoke the Czech language, making Czech the third most commonly spoken Slavic or Eastern European language after Polish and Russian. During the same year, 7,000 Czech Roman Catholics belonged to the St. Wenceslaus Roman Catholic parish.

By the 1930 United States Census, the Baltimore Czech population decreased slightly to number 7,652 people.

In 1940, 1,816 immigrants from Czechoslovakia lived in Baltimore. These immigrants comprised 3% of the city's foreign-born white population. In total, 4,031 people of Czech birth or descent lived in the city, comprising 2.9% of the foreign-stock white population.

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