First Lutheran Church (Winthrop, Minnesota)

First Lutheran Church
First Lutheran Church
First Evangelical Lutheran Church
	44°32′31″N94°21′42″W / 44.54194°N 94.36167°W
Location	213 N Hennepin St, Winthrop, Minnesota 55396
Country	United States
Denomination	Lutheran
Membership	277
Weekly attendance	68
History
Former name(s)	Swedish Lutheran Church
Status	Church
Founded	1884
Founder(s)	C.M. Ryden
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Completed	1904
Specifications
Materials	Brick
Bells	1
Administration
Synod	Southwestern Minnesota
Clergy
Pastor(s)	David F Winterfeldt

Last updated April 06, 2024

First Lutheran Church is a Lutheran church in Winthrop, Minnesota. The church is easily recognized by its tall steeple and its large stained glass windows.

History

The church was established in 1884 by C.M. Ryden, who was the pastor at the nearby Bernadotte Lutheran Church in Bernadotte, Minnesota. Originally named Swedish Lutheran Church, the church changed its name to First Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1922. It is commonly known by the shortened name "First Lutheran Church".

Because of this shared history, First Lutheran and Bernadotte Lutheran are often considered sister churches.^[3]

Buildings

The church has constructed and occupied two buildings since its inception.

Original building

The original church building was built in 1885 and was of wood construction. The building was sold to Zion Lutheran Church (another church in Winthrop) in 1904 for $500, and was then moved to the corner of Fourth and Renville streets. Around 1967, the building was torn down (Zion having moved to a different location at that point).^[4]

Current building

The current church building was built in 1904 and is of brick construction. It features a large organ and several large stained glass windows.

The organ was originally built by Hillgreen, Lane & Co. in 1910. It has undergone two rebuilds / upgrades since then, both by^[5]^[6] Hendrickson Organ Company. The first, referred to by the company as Opus 1, occurred in 1966.^[7]^[8] The second rebuild, referred to by the company as Opus 58, in 1982, was necessitated by the 1981 fire (see below).^[9]^[10]

A total of 14 large stained glass windows adorn the church building. Due to their age, in 2013 a project was launched to repair and restore the windows one at a time. The project is expected to last 4 to 6 years.^[11]

There have been two major additions to the building since its original construction: a 16-room educational and office wing on the rear / southeast corner and an entry way / coat room / basement stairwell on the front / west side.

1981 Christmas Eve fire

The building experienced a fire in 1981, caused by a candle left burning on one of the stained glass window sills following the traditional Christmas Eve late-afternoon service. The fire was noticed by some passersby later that evening, and thus the damage caused by the fire itself was limited to the candle's general vicinity. The stained glass window and several nearby pews were complete losses.

Although the fire had been contained, it still caused extensive smoke damage to the building. This required the replacement of the carpeting, the sound system, and the hymnals, refurbishment of the organ, and repainting of the walls and ceiling. While the remaining pews were being refinished in a local barn as part of the repairs, the barn caught fire and was destroyed. As a consequence, all pews had to be replaced rather than just the initial few.

Worship services were held in the church basement for approximately one year while repairs were made.

Former pastors

Former Pastors
Name	Start Date	End Date
Laurens Petrus Bergstrom^[12]	1887	?
A.F. Lunduist	?	?
E.A. Martell	?	1944
Lambert Engwall	1944	1972
Jares A. Brown	1972	1974
Dwight R. Johnson	1974	1985
James David Aronen	1985	1991
Paul Arthur Hesterberg	1991	2002
?	2002	?

Related Research Articles

North Saint Paul is a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States, located east-northeast of the city of Saint Paul. The population was 12,364 at the 2020 census.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is a mainline Protestant Lutheran church headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The ELCA was officially formed on January 1, 1988, by the merging of three Lutheran church bodies. As of 2022, it has approximately 2.9 million baptized members in 8,640 congregations.

Mark S. Hanson is an American bishop who served as the third Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Before being elected presiding bishop, he served as bishop of the Saint Paul Area Synod as well as pastor of three Minnesota congregations: Prince of Glory Lutheran Church, Minneapolis; Edina Community Lutheran Church; and University Lutheran Church of Hope in Minneapolis. In addition to serving as Presiding Bishop, Hanson was the 11th President of the Lutheran World Federation.

The Basilica of Saint Mary is a Roman Catholic minor basilica located on its own city block along Hennepin Avenue between 16th and 17th Streets in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was the first basilica established in the United States. The Basilica of Saint Mary is the co-cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church is a Victorian Gothic-style Lutheran church built in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1878 - then claimed to be "the finest church edifice within the Missouri Synod." Today it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a designated State Historic Site. The building was also declared a Milwaukee Landmark in 1967, and today is the oldest church associated with the Lutheran Church–Missouri Synod in the city.

The Slovak Zion Synod is a group of 20 Lutheran congregations and one of the 65 synods that make up the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It is the only non-geographic synod in the ELCA, the only ELCA synod to have a congregation in Canada, and the only synod defined by its mission and outreach, instead of geography. The synod was founded by Slovak immigrants in 1919 as the Slovak Evangelical Lutheran Zion Synod and joined with the United Lutheran Church in America, remaining as a separate synod in that denomination. The policy continued when the ULCA merged into the Lutheran Church in America (1962) and later the ELCA (1988).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coonalpyn Lutheran Church</span> Church in South Australia, Australia

Coonalpyn Lutheran Church is a Lutheran church in the Australian state of South Australia located in Coonalpyn. It is reported as being the largest church in the Coonalpyn Lutheran Parish which has congregations in Tintinara and Meningie. Built in 1953, it was the first Lutheran church in Australia to have both Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia (ELCA) and United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Australia (UELCA) congregations worship in the same building before the two Synods amalgamated in 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia</span>

The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia (LTSP) was one of eight theological seminaries associated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the largest Lutheran denomination in North America. It is located on Germantown Avenue in the Mount Airy neighborhood of northwestern Philadelphia. Founded in 1864, it has its roots in the Pennsylvania Ministerium established in 1748 in Philadelphia by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wilma Kucharek</span> American Lutheran bishop (born 1954)

Wilma S. Kucharek is bishop of the Slovak Zion Synod.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St. John's Lutheran Church (Knoxville, Tennessee)</span> Historic church in Tennessee, United States

St. John's Lutheran Church is a historic Lutheran church located at 544 Broadway NW in Knoxville, Tennessee. The church building is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, both individually and as a contributing property in the Emory Place Historic District.

The Gethsemane Evangelical Lutheran Church is a church located at 4461 Twenty-Eighth Street in Detroit, Michigan. It was designated a Michigan State Historic Site in 1980 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The building now houses the Motor City Missionary Baptist Church.

The 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly was the eleventh biennial Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. It convened in the city of Minneapolis, Minnesota, from August 17–23, 2009. The Churchwide Assembly is the 'highest legislative authority' of the ELCA.

St. Paul Lutheran Church is located in central, Davenport, Iowa, United States. It is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The church's original property, which subsequently housed other Protestant congregations, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, but has since been torn down. The present complex was built in 1952 and contains two buildings that are contributing properties in the Vander Veer Park Historic District. The present church building was completed in 2007.

Advent Lutheran Church is a church affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in the Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City. The church building was designed by the architectural firm of William Appleton Potter (1842–1909).

Zion Lutheran Church is a historic church northwest of Volin in rural Yankton County, South Dakota. It is situated 8½ miles east of the Volin exit on U.S. Route 81. The church was built in 1915 in Gothic Vernacular style. The building is of wood-frame construction with a foundation of concrete block veneer. Stained glass windows, vaulted ceilings and twin steeples are distinctive features of the building. The church was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. The church now houses the Faith United Lutheran Church which is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Hebron Church is a mid-19th-century Lutheran church in Intermont, Hampshire County, in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Hebron Church was founded in 1786 by German settlers in the Cacapon River Valley, making it the first Lutheran church west of the Shenandoah Valley. The congregation worshiped in a log church, which initially served both Lutheran and Reformed denominations. Its congregation was originally German-speaking; the church's documents and religious services were in German until 1821, when records and sermons transitioned to English.

Mount Pisgah Lutheran Church, also known in its early years as the First Lutheran Church and First English Lutheran Church and more recently as The Sanctuary on Penn, is located at 701 North Pennsylvania Street in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana. The historic church was built by the city's first Lutheran congregation, which organized in 1837, and was its third house of worship. The former church, whose present-day name is The Sanctuary on Penn, is operated as a for-profit event venue.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of São Paulo, also known as Martin Luther Church, is one of the headquarters of the Southeast Synod of the Evangelical Church of Lutheran Confession in Brazil, located near the Largo do Paiçandu, in the historic center of São Paulo. The temple was founded on December 25, 1908, being one of the main meeting places of the German community in the first half of the twentieth century.

The Lutheran Church of the Redeemer is a Lutheran church in midtown Atlanta, Georgia. The congregation was founded in the city in 1903, with the current building constructed in 1952.

Christ Lutheran Church on Capitol Hill is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in the Thomas-Dale neighborhood of Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States.

References

↑ "ELCA - Southwestern Synod Page". search.elca.org. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
↑ "ELCA - First Lutheran Page". search.elca.org. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
↑ "Bernadotte Lutheran Church". fields-of-grace.org. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
↑ "Zion Lutheran Church, Winthrop, Mn - History". zionwinthrop.com. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
↑ "Hendrickson Organ Co". enchamade.com. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
↑ "Sioux Trails Chapter, American Guild of Organists". agosiouxtrails.org. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
↑ "1966 Organ Rebuild". pipeorganlist.com. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
↑ "1966 Organ Rebuild". database.organsociety.org. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
↑ "1982 Organ Rebuild". pipeorganlist.com. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
↑ "1982 Organ Rebuild". database.organsociety.org. Retrieved 2016-01-10.
↑ "Stained glass windows being replaced at First Lutheran". smalltownnews.com. Retrieved 2016-02-25.
↑ "Swedlanda Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hector, MN - Pastors of Swedlanda". Lutheransonline.com. Archived from the original on 2016-01-27. Retrieved 2016-01-10.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "ELCA - Southwestern Synod Page". search.elca.org. Retrieved 2016-01-10.

[2] "ELCA - First Lutheran Page". search.elca.org. Retrieved 2016-01-10.

[3] "Bernadotte Lutheran Church". fields-of-grace.org. Retrieved 2016-01-10.

[4] "Zion Lutheran Church, Winthrop, Mn - History". zionwinthrop.com. Retrieved 2016-01-10.

[5] "Hendrickson Organ Co". enchamade.com. Retrieved 2016-01-10.

[6] "Sioux Trails Chapter, American Guild of Organists". agosiouxtrails.org. Retrieved 2016-01-10.

[7] "1966 Organ Rebuild". pipeorganlist.com. Retrieved 2016-01-10.

[8] "1966 Organ Rebuild". database.organsociety.org. Retrieved 2016-01-10.

[9] "1982 Organ Rebuild". pipeorganlist.com. Retrieved 2016-01-10.

[10] "1982 Organ Rebuild". database.organsociety.org. Retrieved 2016-01-10.

[11] "Stained glass windows being replaced at First Lutheran". smalltownnews.com. Retrieved 2016-02-25.

[12] "Swedlanda Evangelical Lutheran Church, Hector, MN - Pastors of Swedlanda". Lutheransonline.com. Archived from the original on 2016-01-27. Retrieved 2016-01-10.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]