Following the Civil War, immigrants flowed into the Norway Lake area with the majority from Norway and Sweden. On October 10, 1868, Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church of Norway Lake incorporated and built a log cabin worship facility at this site. Church records indicate that 490 baptisms, 142 confirmations, 72 marriages and 77 burials were conducted here.
By 1875 the population had outgrown the Log Church which was later moved to the parsonage farm. To replace the log cabin, the congregation built two frame churches — East Norway Lake and West Norway Lake.
Using historical data, the Norway Lake Historical Association, which harvested fifty oak trees locally, built a replica of the original Log Church in 1999. The association displays grave marker fragments uncovered during road construction in the late 1950s and two log cabins. A grainery from the Nils Peterson farm, originally located between Norway and Games Lake, now sits east of the Log Church. A restored log home originally occupied by Ole and Aase Knutson is located 1/4 mile northeast of Log Church.
The Pioneer Log Church established here represents the birthplace of East Norway Lake Lutheran, Hope Lutheran (formerly West Norway Lake), First Lutheran, West Lake Lutheran, Monson Lake Lutheran and South Lake Johanna Church.
This project has been financed in part with funds provided by
the State of Minnesota through the Minnesota Historical Society from the Arts and
Cultural Heritage Fund and the Kandiyohi County Historical Society.
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