Salem Lutheran Church in Dalbo has a rich history dating back to before Dalbo was an established township — 150 years to be exact.
The church was founded by Swedish immigrants looking to establish their new home in rural Minnesota.
In 1869, 63 immigrants traveled from Venjan, Sweden to what is now known as Dalbo. Once the immigrants had built their homes, they started looking to build a worship community, and that began in the home of Sigfrid Anderson, said Mary Fiel, pastor of Salem Lutheran Church.
The pastor of the Cambridge Lutheran Church at the time met with the settlers in Anderson’s home, and on Feb. 17, 1874, the Salem Lutheran Church received its first name: “Svenska Evangeliska Lutherska Salems Forsamling.”
The first church building wasn’t completed until 1880, six years before Dalbo became a township.
During that time period, churches were at the center of communities and became a social hub for people to gather.
“People used to gather in the yard and have meals together with 400 or 500 people here,” Salem Lutheran Church historian Keith Engstrom said.
“The church has always been here in a sense, and it has been a hub for this small town,” Fiel said. “Back 150 years ago, you needed that community of the church because that was your support system. Now people travel all over to go to church. So the overall structure and what people get out of church has transformed so much in ways I don’t think we ever could have predicted.”
In the year of the church’s 25th anniversary, the original structure caught fire and burned to the ground after it was struck by lightning the summer of 1899.
“It used to sit over by our ball field,” Engstrom said. “Then they all got together and started construction on this building in 1900 and it was finished in 1901 sometime, and they had a dedication in 1902.”
That is the building that still stands as the Salem Lutheran Church today.
During the time between when the church burned down and the new church was built, the congregation temporarily relocated services.
“When this church burned in 1899, the Dalbo Baptist Church offered their church for worship, but then their church burned in 1925, so we just did the same thing for them so they could come worship,” Engstrom said.
Much of the woodwork in the building was provided by Carl Victor Krona’s farm, one of the first settlers near Dalbo and by Stanchfield Lake, and all of the brick on the outside of the building was made in Cambridge along the Rum River.
“There were two brick producers along the Rum River in Cambridge. If you walk along the river over by the park, you can still see remnants of that brickyard,” Engstrom said.
The alter ring currently standing the church was originally built with the wood from the Krona farm.
The current pews in the church were installed in 1961, and Salem Lutheran Church gained its current fellowship hall in 1957. After that, the next big construction project was to add a basement beneath the fellowship hall, which was completed in 1972.
But the most recent construction project happened in 2019 when the suspended ceiling began falling down.
“We had to redo the ceiling in the church, we had to tear it all down. There were multiple areas that were falling down. The dome ceiling (current ceiling) was what was originally there,” Engstrom said.
Now the church is celebrating its 150th anniversary with an extra special Sunday service on June 30.
“It’s just amazing to think about everything that’s gone on in 150 years and how the church has remained,” Fiel said.
Salem Lutheran Church plans to celebrate the anniversary by bringing back one of the church’s previous pastors, William Pearson, who was the pastor of the church between 1992 and 2013. The church also commissioned a new song that will be played during the service, and players from the Swedish Institute will be visiting to perform.
Following the service, a luncheon will be catered by Grandy’s Brass Grill.
Salem Lutheran Church also created booklets that will be available for purchase containing the history of the church over the last 50 years. A previous booklet was made for the 100th anniversary with a more extensive history.
“I want to give a big thank you to all of the members that put in the time and energy to put this event together,” Fiel said. “We’ve been a longstanding place in this area, and we hope to continue that into the future.”
Looking toward the future, Fiel hopes that Salem Lutheran Church will become a strong resource for everyone in the community.
“I don’t think anybody really knows what the future will hold, but I would like to see Salem be sort of the resource hub for the community. There isn’t much else in Dalbo, but it would be nice to see it be a community space,” Fiel said.
To learn more about Salem Lutheran Church, visit https://www.salemlutherandalbo.com/.
Reach Chloe Smith at chloe.smith@apgecm.com
Most Popular
Comments / 0