The Synod of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, commonly called the Norwegian Synod, was founded in 1853. It included churches in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Norwegian Americans are Americans with ancestral roots in Norway. Norwegian immigrants went to the United States primarily in the latter half of the 19th century and the first few decades of the 20th century. There are more than 4.5 million Norwegian Americans, according to the most recent U.S. census,; most live in the Upper Midwest. Norwegian Americans are currently the 10th-largest European ancestry group in the United States. In a U.S. context Norwegian Americans often refer to themselves as Norwegian; however in Norway they are primarily seen as Americans with only distant ancestral ties to Norway. There are significant cultural differences between Norwegians and Norwegian Americans; for example Norwegians are highly secular, while Norwegian Americans are often religious.
Cleng Peerson was a Norwegian-American pioneer who led the first group of Norwegians to emigrate to the United States, traveling on the Norwegian sloop Restauration.
Luther Seminary is a seminary of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) in Saint Paul, Minnesota. It is the largest seminary of the ELCA. It also accepts and educates students of 41 other denominations and traditions. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission and the Association of Theological Schools. It also has theological accreditation through the ELCA as well as the United Methodist Church.
Elling Eielsen was a Norwegian-American minister and Lutheran Church leader. He was the first Norwegian Lutheran minister in the United States.
The Norwegian Lutheran Church in the United States is a general term to describe the Lutheran church tradition developed within the United States by immigrants from Norway.
Norway is an unincorporated community in Mission Township, LaSalle County, Illinois. Located along the Fox River, the community was the site of an early Norwegian-American settlement. Today it is the site of the State of Illinois Norwegian Settlers Memorial.
Valley Grove is a historic Lutheran church complex in Wheeling Township, Minnesota, United States. It consists of two 19th-century churches surrounded by a hilltop cemetery. The older building was constructed in stone in 1862 by a rural community of Norwegian immigrants. The congregation outgrew the first church and constructed a larger, wooden replacement in 1894, converting the original building into a guild hall. The property was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982 for its local significance in the themes of architecture, art, and religion. It was nominated for encapsulating two phases of rural ecclesiastical architecture in a dramatic hilltop tableau, and for its role in anchoring eastern Rice County's dispersed community of Norwegian immigrants.
Trondhjem Norwegian Lutheran Church is a historic church in Webster Township, Rice County, Minnesota. It was original built in 1878 and rebuilt in 1899. It is situated about 1 mi (1.6 km) south of Minnesota State Highway 19 at 8501 Garfield Avenue S, southeast of Lonsdale, Minnesota.
The Dundee Township Historic District is a set of sixty-five buildings in Dundee Township, Kane County Illinois. Buildings in the district are found in East Dundee, West Dundee, and Carpentersville. The district represents the development of the upper Fox River Valley from 1870 to the 1920s. Dundee Township became an important industrial area, especially following the construction of the Dundee Brick Company in West Dundee and the Illinois Iron and Bolt Company in Carpentersville. Also included in the district are a variety of Queen Anne, Italianate, and Greek Revival style houses and Gothic Revival churches. The majority of the historic district lies within the boundaries of West Dundee. It was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1975.
The Hauge Log Church is located near the community of Daleyville in the town of Perry, Wisconsin. It was the first Norwegian Lutheran Church constructed in western Wisconsin. Hauge Log Church is located on County Highway Z just off State Highway 78. The historic building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. A Historic District Park open year round was created by the residents of the Town of Perry in 2001 to surround and protect its scenic views and serenity from development in perpetuity [http://www.haugehistoricdistrictpark.org and http://www.haugehistoricdistrictpark.com.
Our Savior's Kvindherred Lutheran Church is an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America congregation located near the town of Calamus in rural Clinton County, Iowa, United States. The church and former school buildings as well as the church cemetery were listed as an historic district on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.
St. John's Lutheran Church of Richland County, was built in 1883 by the faith community originally known as the South Wild Rice Lutheran Congregation, whose constitution was adopted on December 27, 1872. In 1882 the name of the faith community was changed to St. John's as construction of the building began. This wood frame church still stands on its original "single course, dry-laid, uncut fieldstone foundation," and is located east of the Wild Rice River in the Red River Valley near Galchutt, North Dakota.
The Singsaas Lutheran Church is a church in rural Brookings County, South Dakota. It is situated 3 miles northwest of the community of Hendricks, Minnesota. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
Hauge Lutheran Church is a historic church in Kenyon Township, Goodhue County, Minnesota.
First English Lutheran Church is a historic church at 354 Third St., North in New Richmond, Wisconsin, United States. It was built in 1906 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Sheldahl First Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church is a historic building located in Sheldahl, Iowa, United States. The community was platted by Osmund Sheldahl and J.S. Polk. Sheldahl was a lay Lutheran minister who settled in Illinois in 1845. He and three others came to this area in 1854 in search of cheap available land. The following year, 21 families that had organized themselves as the "Palestine Congregation" relocated to Story County. Sheldahl became a large land owner and the regular pastor for Palestine Lutheran Church in 1860. He built a house in town in 1877 and he and his two sons built this church building in 1883. Osmund Sheldahl served the congregation as an unpaid pastor for 13 years. His will stipulated that the church building be made available to any Christian denomination that emphasized Bible teaching. It remained in regular use until 1936.
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.
New Sweden Chapel is a historic Lutheran Church building located east of Fairfield, Iowa, United States in rural Jefferson County. The Swedish immigrant community that settled here was organized in 1845 under the leadership of Peter Cassel, a native of Kisa, Östergötland, Sweden. This was the first Swedish settlement in Iowa, as well as the first west of the Mississippi River. They established a Lutheran congregation in 1848, and built a log church in 1851. This church replaced it in 1860. Local builder Henri Jagle was responsible for building the 50-by-30-foot frame structure. It is four bays in length and features a 16-foot (4.9 m) tower with a spire over the main entrance. The interior features a painting by Olaf Grafström, who was an art instructor at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois. In 1948 the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church named the New Sweden Chapel as a National Synodial Shrine in recognition of its being the oldest congregation in the synod. Prince Bertil of Sweden and the Archbishop of Uppsala participated in a ceremony that drew 3,000 people. The chapel no longer houses a regular congregation, but is used for special occasions. A cemetery is located on the church grounds. The chapel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
