The Oslo Community

Anders L. Mordt had come to the United States from Norway in 1904 and ran his land company from Guymon, Oklahoma; his advertisements appeared in Midwestern Norwegian papers including Skandinaven. The congregation built a wooden church in 1911 and ordered a copper bell and an altar painting from Norway, but the bell went down with the Titanic. Into the 1930s services were held in Norwegian, and lutefisk and lefse appeared at festive gatherings. A new church of Austin stone burned on February 18, 1950, the eve of its dedication, and was rebuilt and dedicated that October.

What the plaque says

In 1908 Anders L. Mordt, a native of Norway, secured form R. M. Thomson and R. T. Anderson the sales rights to 100 sections of Hansford County land he named Oslo. The first settlers were recruited from existing Norwegian colonies in the midwestern United States. To promote the development, Mordt advertised his inexpensive Texas land in major Norwegian language publications across the nation. He also published a weekly newspaper, The "Oslo Posten", and organized an annual Norwegian Independence Day celebration, "Syttende Mai" (May 17), which attracted crowds from surrounding towns in Oklahoma and Texas. Community worship services were first conducted at the Oslo schoolhouse in 1909 by the Rev. Christian Heltne. Officially organized the following year, the Olso Lutheran Church became the center of the farming settlement. Mordt's land sales ended in 1913 as a result of a severe drought. When the Denver and Gulf Railroad decided to bypass the area, the townsite of Oslo (2.5 miles south) declined. Although many settlers moved away, more than thirty families remained. Today the Olso Lutheran Church serves as a remainder of the area's Norwegian heritage. (1981)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• No Man's Land Museum — 13 mi
  The Panhandle's own museum at Goodwell, kept since 1934 by a society the strip's first settlers founded, on the campus of Oklahoma Panhandle State University.

More markers nearby

• Old Farwell — 15 mi
• Site of Cator Buffalo Camp — 21 mi
• Site of Old Zulu Stockade — 21 mi
• Old Hardesty — 23 mi