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Rev. Uno Cygnaeus arrived in Sitka in May of 1840, having been sent by the Church of Finland to establish the first non-orthodox church in Russian America. Aided in this endeavor by the Governor, who was also a Finnish Lutheran, he and the others soon had a flourishing church with approximately 150 members, most of whom were Finnish craftsmen, clerks and shipwrights. In October of 1867, Alaska was formally transferred to the United States. The departure of the Russian Company left Sitka Lutheran with few members. The building was dismantled and the furnishings placed in storage. For 50 years the plot of land “given to the Lutheran Congregation in perpetuity” had no building. Then, in 1940, the ULC refounded the Sitka Church on the site. On January 2, 1966 fire destroyed the church and much of downtown Sitka. The new building was dedicated in 1967.