A century ago, in January 1911, the Danish-American Colony corporation bought 9,000+ acres of land stretching from Alamo Pintado Creek to Rancho Jonata (Buellton area). The new settlement was named Solvang, which means “sunny field” in Danish.
The corporation advertised in Danish-language newspapers, and almost immediately Danish immigrants from all over the U.S. and Denmark bought land in the “colony” and soon moved to Solvang.
Many descendents of those original Danish settlers populate the town today. The Danish Folk School The founders of Solvang were three educators and pastors from the Midwest who dreamed that the one of the very first buildings in the town should be a Danish-style folk school.
The founders, Reverends Benedict Nordentoft and J.M. Gregersen and Professor P.P. Hornsyld, saw their dream realized, at first with a simple two story building (below). Three years later in 1914 a grand folk school on a hill overlooked the town (on facing page).
Called Atterdag College (which means “another day”), it was the heart and soul of Solvang for decades. The college closed its doors in 1952, and its site was then used to establish the new Solvang Lutheran Home.
Atterdag College was torn down in 1972 to make way for an expansion of the Lutheran Home. Today the continuing-care retirement community, now named Atterdag Village of Solvang, overlooks Solvang. Solvang’s Danish Look Solvang in the 1940s looked like any other small, rural community in California. If anything, it had a slightly Spanish look.
That changed when Solvang reinvented itself in 1947. It began to look Danish as well as be Danish. It was also “discovered” by the Saturday Evening Post as a charming, Old World destination.
The self-contained community found itself hosting an ever-increasing stream of visitors from all over the world. After World War II, immigration from Denmark continued. Danish was still spoken regularly and Danish customs and celebrations played a major role in people’s lives.
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