Aurland United Norwegian Lutheran Church

Sep 2, 2010

Editor Bernie Hunhoff took these photos of the Aurland United Norwegian Lutheran Church located in Brown County southeast of Frederick.

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Norwegian settlers organized the Aurland United Norwegian Lutheran Church in 1885.
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Early services were held in homes and at a local school house.
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Construction of the church began in 1905. The church was built as a replica of a church in their homeland of Aurland, Norway.
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The building cost $850 to build and all of the labor was donated by church members.
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The church building was completed in 1908. Early services were held in Norwegian. English was gradually incorporated into the services in the late 1920s.
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The church was placed on the National Historic Places Registry in 1982. It still contains original furnishings.
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The church doors closed in 1953 "due to reasons beyond our control." A stone monument was erected in front of the church in 1961 with inscriptions of the original church members.

Comments

10:18 pm - Wed, June 8 2011

Max said:

$850 in 1885 equates a sum between $12,000 and $35,000 in 2011 dollars, assuming a 2% or a 3% year after year inflation. Safe to say the building cost about $20,000 in 2011 dollars.

03:12 am - Mon, December 22 2014

Ronny Terum said:

Interesting. I grew up in Aurland, Sogn og Fjordane, Norway. Many norwegians settled to north America late in the 1800s. I wonder if this church was build by people from my hometown.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aurland/108146509213882?fref=ts

10:03 pm - Fri, January 18 2019

Angela Lukken Whitney said:

My mother's family...John Jensen Buene helped to build this church. He came to the US from Aurland Norway in the late 1800's. Married my grandmother and they built a farm (claimed) near Frederick Sd. Mn Governor Thye's family was a cousin of the Buene family...he has family buried in this cemetery. There are still Buenes in the Aurland Norway area.