American, Norwegian, or Lutheran? Main Features of Early Norwegian-American Church Architecture in the Upper Midwest, 1850–1870

Abstract

1 American, Norwegian, or Lutheran? Main Features of Early Norwegian- American Church Architecture in the Upper Midwest, 1850-1870 by Jens Christian Eldal Norwegian immigrants in the United States were often active Lutherans who brought their faith and traditions of congregational life with them to their new country.1 A great deal has been written about how they organized a mass of congregations and built a multitude of churches across the Midwest. On the other hand, little has been written about precisely how they conceived and built these structures in the new land.2 When it came to creating a physical environment for their services of worship, were these Norwegian congregations determinatively influenced by their inheritance from the old country, or was it the new setting and the traditions associated with it that set the standards for how their new churches were to look? Or were there possibly other circumstances and influences that shaped the development of church architecture? 3 4 Jens Christian Eldal CHURCH OR MEETINGHOUSE? Choice of form and style, whether Norwegian or American, was not likely a consciously defined problem when immigrants built the very first Norwegian-American churches in the middle of the 1840s in Wisconsin. By the time fifteen years had elapsed, however, we can be certain that the theme had been broached. It was the subject of an article written in 1863 by the editor of the journal Kirkelig Maanedstidende, Pastor Jakob Aall Ottesen (1825-1904). Ottesen asserted that Holden Church in Goodhue County, Minnesota, begun in 1861, was the first church erected according to a "proper plan in our old, Norwegian ecclesiastical style."3 The journal also printed a floor plan of the church, intended to serve as a pattern for other Norwegian churches. A sketch of the exterior was also available, but the journal was unable to include it. It was instead made available through the pastors of the Norwegian Synod for a modest price. As a rationale for providing these materials, the journal asserted that the first churches built by the immigrants had not been especially successful in form or proportion. They had been built from an American plan fit for a meetinghouse but not for a church. Even in "carefully built" examples of churches in the American style, pulpit and altar were lacking. In the American structures these objects had been replaced by a central lectern with a table in front of it. The churches in the American style often had two narrow aisles leading up to the altar. In contrast, Norwegian churches typically had a wide central aisle, which was necessary, according to the journal, not merely as a matter of taste, but also for the traditional Norwegian practice of catechization, in which youngsters stood in the aisle for recitation with the pastor. A design calling for a single central aisle was thus based on functional rather than aesthetic considerations. Ottesen conceded that it might be difficult to discuss this subject if church Early Norwegian- American Church Architecture 5 Floor plan of Holden Church, Minnesota, published in 1863 to serve as a model for Norwegian churches in America. Typical of the Eisenach rules were the emphasis on chancel, sacristy, and steeple as distinguishable parts "added" to the main building . From Kirkelig Maanedstidende , 1863. 6 Jens Christian Eldal West Church, Jefferson Prairie, Illinois, 1858. Jakob Aall Ottesen considered the furnishing American: a dominating lectern with a small table in front, and two aisles. Courtesy of Jefferson Prairie Lutheran Church. East Church, Jefferson Prairie, Illinois, 1861. Affiliated with the Norwegian Synod, the congregation was more high church compared to the Hauge congregation of the West Church. Still the interiors were almost identical.There may be a difference in the emphasis on a more solid altar in the East Church compared to the table in the West Church. Courtesy of NAHA Archives, Northfield, Minnesota. Early Norwegian-American Church Architecture 7 design were merely a matter of taste. He maintained a church looked better with an altar as focal point at the end of a wide, single aisle with pulpit and baptismal font on each side.This he thought better than the American pattern, where upon entering one viewed the church interior somewhat...