Editing Waterloo, Illinois (section)

===19th-century German settlement===
The town experienced a marked population increase after 1840, and that is when the German population got its impetus, the original German settlers having arrived in the 1830s or even earlier. Some came from populations in the former colonies, but many came directly from Germany, either overland from the [[East Coast of the United States|East Coast]] ports, or upriver from [[New Orleans]]. These came in search of their own land, and to escape the [[German revolutions of 1848–1849|widespread political unrest]] in Germany at the time. Many of the city's buildings, its citizens, and especially its local character still reflect the heritage left by those German settlers. Many [[calque]]s and idioms such as those found in [[Pennsylvania Dutch English]] persist, and there are a number of German words which commonly sprinkle casual conversation.