Heart Prairie Lutheran Church | |
 Entrance to the church | |
| Nearest city | Whitewater, Wisconsin |
|---|---|
| Built | 1857 |
| NRHP reference # | 74000133 |
| Added to NRHP | 1974-12-27 |
Heart Prairie Lutheran Church of Whitewater, Wisconsin was a historic church organized in 1844 by pioneer Lutheran minister, Claus Lauritz Clausen. [1]
Whitewater is a city in Walworth (mostly) and Jefferson counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located near the southern portion of the Kettle Moraine State Forest, Whitewater is the home of the University of Wisconsin–Whitewater. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 14,390. Of this, 11,150 were in Walworth County, and 3,240 were in Jefferson County.
Claus Lauritz Clausen was an American pioneer Lutheran minister, church leader, military chaplain and politician.
Contents
Before the church was built, services were held under oak trees, in the Lyman School, and in log cabins. One of those early log cabins, owned by Gundar Halvorsen, now sits on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. The Norwegian pioneers began hauling brick by oxcart to build the present church, which was completed between 1855 and 1857. About this time the congregation joined with congregations at Whitewater, Palmyra and Sugar Creek to call the same Lutheran pastor. [2]
Palmyra is a village in Jefferson County, Wisconsin, United States, along the Scuppernong River. It was named after the desert oasis city of Palmyra, Syria, due to its dry, sandy soil. The name means "sandy soil." The population was 1,781 at the 2010 census. The village is adjacent to the Town of Palmyra.
Sugar Creek is a town in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 3,331 at the 2000 census. The unincorporated communities of Millard and Tibbets are located in the town. The unincorporated community of Abells Corners is also located partially in the town.
During the later 19th century the congregation grew to over 100 members. After 1880 an organist played a reed pump organ that led the congregational hymns. The Norwegian language was used in the church until 1902. It was only then that the English language was introduced into the services, but not used exclusively until 1920. During the early 1900s membership began declining as a result of families moving out of the Heart Prairie area. Finally in 1948, because of dwindling membership, the congregation merged with First English Lutheran Church of Whitewater. [3]
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken mainly in Norway, where it is the official language. Along with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a dialect continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional varieties, and some Norwegian and Swedish dialects, in particular, are very close. These Scandinavian languages, together with Faroese and Icelandic as well as some extinct languages, constitute the North Germanic languages. Faroese and Icelandic are hardly mutually intelligible with Norwegian in their spoken form because continental Scandinavian has diverged from them. While the two Germanic languages with the greatest numbers of speakers, English and German, have close similarities with Norwegian, neither is mutually intelligible with it. Norwegian is a descendant of Old Norse, the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era.
English is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and eventually became a global lingua franca. It is named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to the area of Great Britain that later took their name, as England. Both names derive from Anglia, a peninsula in the Baltic Sea. The language is closely related to Frisian and Low Saxon, and its vocabulary has been significantly influenced by other Germanic languages, particularly Norse, and to a greater extent by Latin and French.
The church, which became known for its historical, architectural and religious features, is included on the National Register of Historic Places. Historically this church may be the oldest Norwegian Lutheran Church in America still being used in its original state. Architecturally the church is a lasting example of pioneer building. Brick was used not only to build walls, but also to supply ornamental and decorative details. [4]
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance. A property listed in the National Register, or located within a National Register Historic District, may qualify for tax incentives derived from the total value of expenses incurred preserving the property.
