Spring Lake Lutheran Church

12/24/2024

10/20/2024

A truly wonderful 150th Spring Lake Lutheran (originally St. Pauli's) anniversary celebration today. Huge thank-you to Jeannie Place who took the reigns months ago and made it all happen, and so beautifully.
She began the service today by saying the Our Father in Norwegian. It was a handful of Norwegian immigrants that founded this little country church in the 'new country'.
Many helped to make it a great day, with the church decorated beautifully (thank you Randy), the wonderful meal (thank you Mel S. & Sue Wood for coordinating) ... all the readers ... Rich the musician ... Dale & Kay P. for their work .... Jessica H. for tech help .... Pastor Bob - for officiating and his lovely singing & playing... visiting pastors ... and so many other hands that helped. And all who attended!
These are just a few photos.
(I really wanted some meal and downstairs photos, but was too busy and forgot!)

09/01/2024

Reverend Berven also served St. John's on occassion. The size of this class may include students from all three parishes. The time frame on this photo appears to be mid-1920's based on the dress and hair styles of the young ladies. Anyone have a better guess?

08/25/2024

Reverend Berven with another confirmation class. Appears to be very early in his tenure which began in 1917. Records show there was no class in 1917. Could that be because of the Spanish flu pandemic?

08/18/2024

Do you remember confirmation? It was a rite of passage for good Lutheran children, no more Sunday school, you were an adult now. You were allowed to take communion and DRINK WINE!! Over the next few weeks, there will be random confirmation photos posted here on FaceBook. There have been 124 confirmation classes over the past 150 years. Some years there were no confirmands, other years such as 1904 had 15 students. Just a note: confirmation was held jointly with Gilman so some of the photos will include Gilman confirmands. If you recognize anyone in the photos, give a shout out! And, if you know what year, that would be wonderful!! Enjoy a look back at the young of the Spring Lake congregation.

08/11/2024

This is a photo of Thore Simonson Steien taken on his 90th birthday, 11 October 1931. At the time of the dedication of the new church (1932) he was the oldest living member of the Spring Lake Lutheran congregation. Thore was born October 11, 1841, in the fylker, or district, of Hedmark located in the east central part of Norway. His father was Simon Eriksen. He married on 8 April 1868 in Alvdal, Hedmark, Norway taking
Ingebjørg Knudsdatter as his bride. It appears Thore left Norway on 12 May 1868 on the Neptunus for Quebec. It isn't clear if his wife immigrated at the same time. He settled in Spring Lake township and remained here for the rest of his life. Ingebjørg passed away on 18 May 1923 and Thore passed on 5 June 1934. He and Ingebjørg are buried in the Spring Lake Lutheran cemetery.

08/05/2024

The bell that resides in the bell tower is one of the few items still in use that date back to the founding of Spring Lake Lutheran Church. Purchased in 1891, the bell was installed in the new church upon its' completion in 1896. The bell cost $297.07 and was shipped from St. Louis MO. It was slightly damaged in the tornado of 1930, but was subsequently reinstalled in the new building, dedicated in 1932. The bell tower was rebuilt and a copper steeple was installed in 1991. The bell was, again, placed in the bell tower where it resides today, calling the faithful to Sunday services.

07/20/2024

Worship in the Park
9:00 am Last Sunday in July and August
Handy Andy Memorial Park
Spring Valley, WI
Bring your own chair!

06/30/2024

June 26, 1932 was chosen as the day to consecrate the new Spring Lake Lutheran Church. The cornerstone was officially laid in the 10:30 am morning service and a dedicatory service was held at 2:00 pm that afternoon. Pastor Berven was assisted by The Right Reverend J.M. Green, President of the Eastern District, and Reverends Daniel Kvaase (a former pastor), H.P. Nordby, Rederick Dahl, Z.J. Ordal, and J.W. Peterson. Many who were unable to get into the church gathered in the church parlors and outside. A microphone was connected to two loudspeakers making it possible for all to hear the addresses and singing. Rev. Kvaase addressed the gathering first speaking a few words in English then a brief greeting in Norwegian "out of consideration for the older members" (Spring Valley Sun). The ladies served a cafeteria dinner to the gathering and after, a group photo was taken outside the church. Four charter members were present that day: Thore S. Stein, Jacob Jacobson, H.P. Hanson and Hogen Jacobson.

06/30/2024

June 26, 1932 was the day chosen to dedicate the new Spring Lake Lutheran Church. The cornerstone was officially laid in the 10:30 am service and in the afternoon, a dedicatory service was held at 2:00 pm. Pastor Berven was assisted by Reverend J.M. Green, President of the Eastern District and Reverends D. Kvasse (a former pastor), H.P. Norby, Frederick Dahl, Z.J. Ordal and J. W. Peterson. Greetings from Reverend Kvasse were given in both English and Norwegian "out of consideration for the older members". Because of the size of the crowd, many gathered in the church parlors and outside. A microphone connected to two speakers made it possible for all to hear both the addresses and the singing. The ladies of the congregation served a "cafeteria dinner" followed by a group photo outside the church.