130 years of Icelandic heritage

European settlement of Point Roberts dates to the mid-19th century, but it was the arrival of a specific ethnic group, Icelanders, who propelled the population growth and development of Point Roberts. This is the 130th anniversary of the arrival of the first Icelander, Kristjan Benson.

Over 40,000 Americans and 90,000 Canadians tell the census they’re of Icelandic heritage, together, nearly half the current population of Iceland. They are descendants of a time in the late nineteenth century when one-fifth of Iceland’s population emigrated to North America.

Benson arrived at Point Roberts on March 7, 1893, from Bellingham. He encouraged a large group of Icelanders in Victoria, which was in a recession, to join him in Point Roberts and settle it as an Icelandic community. He told them a cannery was about to open at Lily Point that would provide jobs, and that there was land available.

In her 1975 memoir, Echoes from the Past, Runa Thordarson, one of the Point’s notable Icelandic residents, recounts Benson’s sales pitch as tax-free living on the condition that each man would cooperatively help to build roads for two-and-a-half days without pay in spring and summer. The land that they bought, however, gave them squatters rights only. Homestead rights would be granted 14 years later, allowing all residents to claim their holdings.

The Icelanders from Victoria arrived in 1894, and went on to operate many businesses and institutions on the Point. By the 1900 census, half of Point Roberts was Icelandic, and many only spoke Icelandic. As late as the 1930s, many children only learned English when they reached school age. Though there are few Icelandic speakers left, ties with Iceland are maintained through cultural exchange programs.

Today, seven generations after his arrival, Kristjan Benson is best known as the namesake for Benson Road. His overgrown house still stands on Benson Road near Tyee Drive.

Stop in to the Point Roberts History Center (open Saturdays) to learn more about the 130-year Icelandic heritage in Point Roberts.