St. Paul Lutheran Church

The brick church the bronze points to carries dates of its own. Its granite cornerstone reads St. Paul Lutheran Church 1863-1920, running from the congregation's founding by Brule Creek to 1920, two years before the July 9, 1922 dedication the bronze records. The bronze, for its part, keeps the 1877 steepled church in use until 1923, a year after that dedication. The church and its cemetery, at 31903 475th Avenue a mile and a quarter from this corner, were added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 20, 2018.

What the plaque says

St. Paul Lutheran Church One and one-fourth miles Stately church edifices frequently have humble beginnings and so with St. Paul Lutheran Church, one of South Dakota's finest. The humble log church pictured hereon was erected in 1867 by the members of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Congregation by Brule Creek, an organization created August 12, 1863 but who had no permanent pastor. It was ready for use by Christmas 1868. The name had been changed to St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in Dakota. The first church council were Kjell P. Ronne, Helge Mathiason and Thomas Olesen. The seats, pulpit and millwork cost $39.50 and its first permanent pastor was (1) J. E. Nesse, who served from 1869 to 1881. The church was used as a parochial school, a common school and a polling place but as the congregation grew, an acre of land across the road to the west was acquired in 1877 and the new church with a high steeple and bell was built and used until 1923. (2) David Lysness served as pastor until his death in 1890 followed by (3) O. T. Nelson, who served until 1895 being succeeded by (4) P. J. Reinertsen, who served until 1918. It was in April, 1910, that the first all English services were conducted. (5) A. J. Bergsaker followed Pastor Reinertsen and on July 9, 1922, the present beautiful church was dedicated. Erected 1966 by the St. Paul Lutheran Church and State Highway Commission

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Ponca State Park — 12 mi
  Oak ravines and bluffs at the downstream end of the Missouri's last unchannelized reach in Nebraska, with a three-state overlook and the river's resource and education center.
• National Music Museum — 12 mi
  One of the great collections of musical instruments in the world, on a college campus in a prairie town, built around a band teacher's thousands of horns, fiddles and curiosities.
• Spirit Mound Historic Prairie — 16 mi
  A lone hill north of Vermillion that Lewis and Clark walked to on a scorching day in 1804, now one of the few places left where you can stand exactly where they stood.

More markers nearby

• Giants in the Earth Country — 1.0 mi
• Richland Methodist Episcopal Church — 1.7 mi
• Elk Point — 5.1 mi
• First Election in Northwestern United States — 5.3 mi