fig 1. Historic Armenia
Courtesy of the Kimbell Art museum.

fig 2. Armenian steel foundry workers,
Detroit, c. 1913.

fig 3. Liberty Variety Store,
Lowell, Massachusetts, c. 1915.
Proprietor Charles Harpootlian with his helper.

fig 4. Photographer K.S. Melikian in his first photolab,
Worcester, Massachusetts, 1923

fig 5. Frankian Farm
Fowler, CA, c. 1924.
Avadanian-Frankian mothers and daughters and a farm worker pose while picking grapes.

fig 6. Holy Saviour Armenian Apostolic Church
38 Laurel St., Worcester, Mass.

fig 7. Members of the Armenian Red Cross
Whitinville, Mass. WWI.
The Armenian Red Cross was the relief organization of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Tashnag). The women hold both the U.S. flag and the flag of the A.R.F.

fig 8. Philadelphians in New York City for the first national gathering of the Armenian Students' Association
1912

fig 9. Armenian float in parade
Worcester, Mass.

fig 10. Edward Boyajian demonstrating rug weaving at Strawbridge and Clothier department store
Philadelphia, PA, c. 1937.

fig 11. Serving on the Church Building Committee which purchased the first Armenian church in Philadelphia were several prominent Philadelphia rug dealers.
Bottom, from left: Frank Nahikian, Sr., Archbishop Tirair Der Hovhannessian, Aram Jerrehian Sr. Top from left: Hovhannes Tashjian, Mugurdich Juskalian, Nazareth Gumushguerdanian, Garabed Ozanian, Apet Chalikian, Osgan Derian, Mugurdich Miadzinian.

fig 12. Knights of Vartan picnic in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, PA, c. 1931.
The Knights of Vartan was an Armenian-American Christian fraternal society. Fairmount Park was a favorite picnic spot for Philadelphia's Armenians.

Survivors of centuries of persecution, Armenians have found safe haven in the United States and have prospered. Despite their success and their contributions to American life, Armenians remain a relatively unknown ethnic group. To be sure, Armenians in the United States are few in number when compared to such groups as the Irish and Italians, but their story is unique and deserves to be told.

Because little has been published on Armenian Americans generally, and practically none at all on Philadelphia's Armenian community, the following essay provides a quick overview of Armenian immigration and life in this country with a special focus on Philadelphia.

The Armenian Plateau, which extends from the Caucasus Mountains west toward the Euphrates River, was settled by ancestors of the Armenian people in the 9th century B.C. and they established an independent kingdom some seven centuries later. The kingdom of Armenia (see photo #1) overlapped the present-day boundaries of Turkey, the Soviet Union, and Iran, but as invasions plagued its history, the Armenian people scattered widely throughout the area. In 1080 they established a second kingdom (Lesser Armenia) in Cilicia on the Mediterranean Coast of what is now Turkey.

The Ottoman Turks ruled by far the greatest part of Armenia from 1514 through World War I, although small portions fell within the Persian and Russian empires as well. Both in their dispersion abroad and under foreign rule in their ancestral homeland, many Armenians occupied a role similar to that of Jews in Europe, serving as "middlemen" or minority-group merchants.

In Turkey, as Christians in a Muslim land, the Armenians proved responsive to the missionaries whom American Protestants dispatched in the 19th century to evangelize the Turks. By the 1890s that, and other western influences, sparked an Armenian national awakening and political rebellion, and the Turkish authorities reacted violently. Although no accurate figures exist as to the number of Armenians killed during this period, the casualties have been estimated as high as 100,000. Many more were left homeless, widowed, or orphaned.

By 1915 the Turkish authorities were becoming increasingly paranoid and desperate. Having been plagued with nationalist uprisings of various ethnic peoples including the Roumanians, Bulgarians, Serbs, and Arabs, and now at war with Russia, the Turks feared for their own national survival. They lashed out at a renewed Armenian independence movement with crushing brutality, aiming to destroy Armenian nationalism once and for all. Armenians remember 1915 as the year of the first Holocaust of the 20th century, insisting that the Turkish government was carrying out a planned extermination of their people. The Turks contend that the deaths of the Armenians were due to the exigencies of war. Whatever the interpretation of the events of that year, the fact remains that hundreds of thousands and by some accounts over one and a half million, Armenians died.

The largest wave of Armenian immigration to the United States occurred as a result of the massacres of the 1890s and 1915, although isolated cases of Armenians living in the New World are documented as far back as 1619 when "Martin the Armenian" arrived in Virginia as a colonist with the London Company. Early in the 19th century young Armenian men, educated in their homeland by the American Protestant missionaries, came to the United States to attend university or to seek their fortunes in business. Some artisans and laborers also arrived hoping to find prosperity. Because these early arrivals were few in number and many did not remain here, by the late 1880s there were still only about 1,500 Armenians in the United States.

Immigration increased dramatically in the 1890s as Armenians fled from the violence in their homeland. As Turkish repression continued, Armenians emigrated in growing numbers so that by 1914 over 50,000 of them had come to the United States.

During World War I Armenians were unable to immigrate to America. After the war, as immigration once again became possible, a record 10,212 arrived in 1920, and 20,559 more entered by 1924. Armenian immigration came to a near halt after 1924 when the U.S. Congress imposed restrictive quotas on immigration. More were permitted to enter after World War II under the Displaced Persons Act (1948), and finally upon the repeal of the quota system in 1965, Armenian immigration resumed. By this time Armenians were coming from the Soviet Union as well as from Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq, other states in which they had settled only to find themselves harrassed and in the midst of conflict. A major new wave of immigration from Soviet Armenia has occurred over the past few years, with over a thousand a month seeking to emigrate to the United States. In 1988 as many as 12,000 new Armenian immigrants are expected.

The first major Armenian settlement in this country was in Massachusetts, where young men came to work in the factories, primarily the wire mills in Worcester, the textile mills in Lawrence and Lowell, and other factories in the Boston area. The other northeastern industrial states--Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania--also attracted Armenians as did the midwestern cities of Detroit, Chicago, and Cleveland (see photo # 2). Nevertheless, Armenians generally worked in the factories only until they had put aside enough money to open a small business of their own. There were many small Armenian-owned businesses but grocery stores, tailor shops, and shoe-makers' shops predominated (see photo # 3). The Armenian entrepreneurs worked until they could sell their first business, buy a bigger place, and make their way up the economic ladder.

Many Armenians achieved rapid economic advancement, often reaching their "American dream" in one generation. They came to the United States with a better education than most immigrants, and were skilled both at business and at adapting themselves to foreign cultures, having lived as a minority group in their native lands.

Armenian Americans established themselves in such businesses as photography, photoengraving, real estate, dry cleaning, and candy manufacturing (see photo # 4). The field of business in which Armenian Americans had their most obvious success as far back as the 1880s was in the sale of oriental rugs. Drawing on old-world ties and past experiences, Armenians before World War I had gained control of over 70% of the oriental rug market in this country. In every large city of the East Coast and in some midwestern and western cities, Armenian rug dealers thrived on the turn-of-the-century American craze for everything "oriental" and exotic.

Those Armenians who tired of the urban environment of the Northeast went west to Fresno, California, where a growing Armenian agricultural colony dominated raisin production and the cultivation of new varieties of melons and figs for the American market (see photo # 5). Most of today's Armenian immigrants are settling on the West Coast, especially in Los Angeles, which now has the largest Armenian community in the United States, with 132,000 people.

Though a significant number of immigrants became professionals, especially in the fields of medicine and science, second-generation Armenians entered the professions in even greater numbers. Pride in the accomplishments of their people is evident in books by and about Armenian Americans, which focus special attention on individual achievement.

Community life for Armenian Americans usually revolved around the churches. As soon as a community was large enough, members would rent a hall or basement in which to hold services until the congregation raised enough money to buy or erect a church of its own (see photo #6). Most Armenian Americans belong to one of two branches of the Armenian Apostolic Church, which in the 4th century became the first Christian state religion. Smaller numbers of Armenians belong to the Eastern-rite Armenian Catholic Church or to one of the Armenian Protestant denominations started by the American missionaries in the 19th century. Through the centuries the church has been crucial to maintaining Armenian cultural identity. It has provided stability through a history of upheaval and uprootedness, shattered communities and broken lives. For Armenians in America the churches also have provided a place not only to worship but to socialize and to teach their children the mother tongue.

Because of the horrors from which they fled, and their common dream of an independent Armenia, many Armenian Americans retained their connections to the homeland. Indeed Armenians throughout the world participated in Armenian politics by joining one of several nationalist groups, all of which were formed around the turn-of-the-century: the Social Democratic Hunchagian party, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Tashnag party), and the Armenian Democratic Liberal party (the Ramgavars). Each group sought to establish a free Armenia but differed in its strategy and political philosophy. In the Armenian-American community, these parties played a vital role by publishing Armenian-language newspapers, operating social clubs, and youth and women's organizations, and administering relief efforts for Armenian refugees in the Near East (see photo #7).

Several social organizations existed apart from the churches and the political parties. These ranged from small fraternal societies to national and international organizations such as the Armenian Students' Association (see photo #8) and the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), the American chapter of which raised $23,689 in 1914 to aid Armenian refugees here and abroad. Special community events, parades, and picnics were sponsored by the religious, political, and social groups to celebrate the Armenian spirit and accomplishments or to commemorate historic events (see photo #9).

Philadelphia's Armenian community, though distinct in many ways, is representative of the Armenian American experience as a whole. Because the Armenian immigrants who arrived before WW I settled primarily in New England and New York, Philadelphia's community was very small until the 1920s. Many of the earliest Armenian residents in Philadelphia were students who came to attend the city's universities. Unlike some other cities and towns, turn-of-the-century Philadelphia had no "Little Armenia." Instead, Armenians scattered throughout the city opening small shops and businesses.

One Philadelphia Armenian remembers visiting shops so makeshift that the counter consisted of a plank of wood supported by orange crates. Armenians were not drawn to Philadelphia to work at a particular factory as they were in Worcester and Lowell, but some Armenians did find factory employment, especially in the tanneries in Philadelphia and Camden.

As elsewhere, the first Armenian immigrants to Philadelphia were almost all single men, and upon arrival they sought housing and direction from those who were already established in the city. A Mrs. Terhanian is remembered by some for taking in new arrivals until they found employment and a place to live.

The Armenian presence in Philadelphia grew considerably in the years immediately following World War I. New arrivals settled more densely, creating communities in both West Philadelphia (primarily between Market Street and Baltimore Avenue from 52nd Street to 63rd Street) and in North Philadelphia (primarily between Spring Garden and Lehigh Streets from Front Street to Broad Street) while wealthier Armenians favored the suburb of Upper Darby.

Philadelphia was typical in the predominance of Armenians in its oriental rug business. Among the early dealers and/or servicers of rugs were Jerrehian, Nahikian, Temoyan, Davidyan, Tijirian, Zakian, Boyajian, and Derian (see photos #10 & 11). The firm of Davis and Nahikian was founded by Frank Nahikian, Robert A. Davis and Alfred Bissell in 1906 with money lent to them by their former employer Charles Fritz of the well-established Fritz and LaRue rug store. The business grew to be one of the premier shops in the city and is still owned and operated by Nahikian's son and grandson. Nahikian's life represents the classic story of an Armenian immigrant who, after arriving in the U.S. with practically no money, grew to be financially successful in the rug business,

Philadelphia Armenians also were successful in dry cleaning and candy manufacturing. Among well-known Armenian firms were Rainbow Cleaners and Azad Candy Co.

Among those in the professions were physicist Dickran Kabakjian, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and a pioneer in radium research, and Harry Kuljian, an engineer who became internationally reknowned for his work. Though there were numerous Armenian doctors in Philadelphia, Dr. Lucy GuIezian was notable for being the only woman in her graduating class at Temple University's medical school in 1914, and a leader in the relief efforts for Armenian refugees in the Near East.

Leadership in the arts came from composer Grigor Suni who established the Suni Armenian Chorus. Another Philadelphia Armenian chorus, founded in 1960 by Arsen Sayan, was the Knar (Lute) Chorus.

An Armenian Apostolic parish council was established in Philadelphia in 1902. In 1917 the congregation bought a church in Center City Philadelphia at Broad and Pike Streets and named it St. Sahag and St. Mesrob Armenian Apostolic Church (see photo #11). As Armenians moved into West Philadelphia and North Philadelphia in the 1920s, the congregation split. St. Sahag and St. Mesrob moved West while a second church, St. Gregory Illuminator Armenian Apostolic Church, was established in North Philadelphia. Due to political differences, a further split at St. Gregory's in 1933 led to the founding of a third Apostolic church--Holy Trinity. Philadelphia's Armenian Catholics and Protestants worshipped at churches of their own. Initially each congregation rented a church, hall or basement for its services. The Apostolic congregation in West Philadelphia moved to three locations before finally building its own church in Wynnewood.

As in other Armenian-American communities the Armenian churches in Philadelphia have served to cultivate and strengthen the community through social groups and youth activities. Churches sponsored Saturday Armenian schools for children, and in 1962 the pastor of St. Mark's Armenian Catholic Church, Monsignor Stepanian, took on a project to establish a full-time Armenian school in Philadelphia which became the Armenian Sisters Academy. The first of its kind on the East Coast, the Sisters Academy, run by Catholic nuns of the Armenian Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, is today a vital force in Philadelphia's Armenian community. The school, which is fully accredited, teaches Armenian language and history as well as a standard school curriculum for preschool through the 8th grade.

As elsewhere Philadelphia's Armenians participated in various Armenian nationalist parties and also established social clubs (see photo #12). Some of the clubs were formed by those who hailed from the same hometown in the old country. Many of Philadelphia's early Armenian immigrants came from Malatya and Arapkir, thus two important social clubs were the Educational Society of Malatya and the Union of Arapkir and Sis. Groups such as the Armenian Students' Association (ASA), the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), the Armenian Youth Federation (associated with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation), and the Knights of Vartan, a Christian fraternal society, were also active in Philadelphia.

Two independent Armenian-language newspapers were published in Philadelphia: Groong (the crane) and Hysird (Armenian heart). Both papers covered events in the U.S. and in the Near East which were of special interest to the Armenian community, although both ceased publication several decades ago.

This brief account of Philadelphia's Armenian community is intended as a starting point. The information was gathered through interviews with older members of the community and from scant references in published works. The subject requires and deserves more research and a comprehensive history. Because the community is only 100 years old, much of its history is accessible in photographs, city records, the papers of Armenian organizations and churches, and in the memories of older people.