Nearly nine centuries after Leif Ericsson established the first settlement of Europeans in North America, several hundred Icelanders left their native land to make their homes in the Minneota area. The first Icelander to arrive was Gunnlaugur Pétursson, who on July 4, 1875, established a homestead in Lyon County on the Yellow Medicine River. Later, 800 Icelanders settled in Lyon, Lincoln, and Yellow Medicine counties. They brought with them little material wealth, but they established schools, churches, libraries, reading societies, and the only Icelandic-language periodical in the United States. They also founded numerous farms and commercial enterprises, including one of Minnesota’s earliest consumer cooperatives, the Verzlunarfelag Islendinga, a general merchandise retail store.