Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
File
Title
Gold Hill Lutheran Church
Date(s)
Extent
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
This folder includes a letter from the church to Milton Nesvig, a 90th anniversary booklet, and a document on the history of the Lutheran Church in Montana.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
Physical access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Languages of the material
Scripts of the material
Language and script notes
Finding aids
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Immediate source of acquisition
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Notes element
General note
The first official records of this congregation date from 1910 when Gold Hill called its first pastor and became a member of the United Norwegian Lutheran Church in America. Prior to that time the congregation had no affiliation with a national church body and did not refer to itself as “Lutheran." Articles of incorporation were not filed until 1921, though organization is generally considered to be in the fall of 1892 when the congregation purchased its first building. Peder Pedersen, an immigrant from Norway, gathered the Norwegian-speaking community together to form the congregation. He lived in the basement of the church as he continued his other work as a shoemaker. Following Pedersen, Gold Hill was served by a succession of pastors, but the congregation was not large enough to support a full-time pastor. In the 1950s the congregation became self-supporting. In 1960 construction was completed on an education wing and fellowship hall.