Identity elements
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Name and location of repository
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File
Title
Nathanael Lutheran Church
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Scope and content
This folder contains a congregational historical record.
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Scripts of the material
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Finding aids
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General note
Nathanael Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized June 9, 1907, less than a year after the first Danish settlers came to the area and established the colony of Dagmar, Montana. The church affiliated with the Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Services were held in a schoolhouse and in various homes. The congregation bought ten acres for a building site. A cemetery was dedicated across the corner from the church property on August 21, 1909, and that same day one of the first to take land in the colony was buried there. In the summer of 1910 a small meeting house was completed at a cost of $1200, and it was used for social gatherings as well as worship. The cornerstone was laid during midsummerfest in 1915, and the church was dedicated December 17, 1916.
All services were conducted in Danish until 1938 when one worship service each month was held in English. In 1949 this was reserved with one service each month held in Danish. Electricity came to the area in 1948. On May 18, 1952 a new parish hall was dedicated. The congregation became part of the Pacific Northwest Synod of the LCA in January of 1963. All services began to be conducted in English.