St. Paul's Lutheran Church

The Ixonia party numbered 124 settlers in 42 families. They set out from the Ixonia area of Wisconsin and reached the North Fork on July 15, 1866, with a second Wisconsin group following in 1867. The colony took its name from the fork of the river, and sources disagree on how the settlers spelled it. Submitted to federal postal authorities, the name was at some point turned into Norfolk, and local people still say Norfork. The city counted 24,955 people in 2020, the seventh most populous in Nebraska.

What the plaque says

St. Paul's Lutheran Church In July 1866, a group of German Lutheran families from Ixonia, Wisconsin, arrived in the area that became the city of Norfolk. They staked claims along the North Fork of the Elkhorn River. They were later joined by their pastor, Reverend Heckendorf, and they established the first school and built the first church in Madison County. A new church was built in 1878 and the present church was built in 1907. Many of the first settlers are buried in St. Paul's cemetery. St. Paul's Lutheran Church Nebraska State Historical Society, 2016

Where it stands

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