From left Congressman Nick Langworthy, Jamestown Mayor Kim Ecklund, and Ambassador of Sweden to the U.S. Urban Ahlin are pictured at a welcoming ceremony Tuesday at the Jackson Center. Ecklund gave a key to the city to Ahlin. Submitted photo

Swedish heritage remains a very vital part of the city of Jamestown’s identity.

Mayor Kim Ecklund said during her speech to those in attendance Tuesday at the Robert H. Jackson Center as part of the welcoming ceremony made possible by U.S. Rep. Nick Langworthy, for Urban Ahlin, Ambassador of Sweden to the United States that Swedish influences instilled generations ago still influence Jamestown today.

“It’s present in our neighborhoods, our traditions and the values that we truly uphold,” Ecklund said of the heritage. “From our earliest settlers to the present day, Swedish influence has helped define our work ethic, our community spirit, and our cultural data.”

She noted Swedish immigrants brought their skills and craftsmanship to the city helping to grow trades and factories. The expertise of the immigrants, she said, played a central role in the city’s furniture industry, an industry that earned Jamestown the title of the furniture capital of the world.

“These tradesmen and artisans did more than grow the local economy. They helped shape the very character and reputation of this amazing city. Their legacy of precision, food quality, and hard work endures to this day. They were drawn here by opportunity and stayed because this land reminded them of home, with its temperate summers, cold winters and expansive forests,” Ecklund said. “Jamestown and Chautauqua County resemble the landscapes of southern and central Sweden.”

Ahlin agreed.

Ahlin added that on the way to Jamestown from Buffalo, Ahlin noticed the similarities between Western New York and his district in Sweden.

“The countryside, the rolling hills, and the farming areas,” Ahlin said about the area. “I’m so happy to see, you know, the kind of Swedish heritage, and when you talk about it, about the work ethic, hard working, strong beliefs, and so, because that is pretty much exactly what Sweden (immigrants) saw.”

Ahlin said Sweden was once the poorest country in Europe, and people of Sweden are extremely thankful to the people of the U.S. for welcoming Swedish immigrants. He said immigrants not only wanted to explore the future prosperity in the U.S., but because Sweden was so poor, people were forced to emigrate from Sweden to the U.S.

“And of course, we are happy when we see this heritage or the work ethics, and the creativity that the Swedish immigrants here in the United States brought to United States,” Ahlin noted.

Ahlin has been the Ambassador of Sweden to the U.S. since September 2023. He most recently served as Sweden’s Ambassador to Canada. Before that he was a member of the Swedish Parliament, representing the Social Democratic Party. As part of his work for the party, Ahlin served as the party’s Foreign Policy Spokesman, and was also a member of the party’s executive board. Ahlin is a teacher, and graduated from the University of Karlstad with a master’s degree. He is married and has two daughters.

Ecklund said, at one time, Jamestown had the highest proportion of Swedish Americans in the eastern U.S.

“(It is) a fact still that is still reflected in our family names, our street names, our churches, and our community traditions,” Ecklund said.

And after she spoke, she presented the ambassador with a key to the city.

Other local lawmakers who welcomed the ambassador to Jamestown included State Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, and State Assemblyman Andrew Molitor. Chautauqua County Executive PJ Wendel proclaimed Tuesday to be Swedish Heritage Day. Other speakers included Kristan McMahon, Jackson Center president, and County Chamber of Commerce President Daniel Heitzenrater. Also the Thule Lodge Folk Dancers performed Swedish dances.