Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/428

 360 HISTOKY OF GOODHUE COUNTY congregation bought a lot on the corner of Fifth and Franklin streets from C. J. F. Smith for $153. It was decided that the church should be 26 feet wide, 30 feet long, with 12-foot walls. There were to be three windows on either side with fifteen panes of glass in each, 12x11 inches in size. The door was to be 4 feet 6 inches wide and 8 feet high. The church was erected in the summer of 1856, but it was never fully completed, never being painted, and because of its shape it Avas nicknamed the Swedish barn. The little struggling congregation was happy, however, over the fact that it could worship in its own church, even though it in no sense could be compared with the larger and more massive churches in which the emigrants had been accustomed to worship in their fatherland. This church was later on converted into a parsonage and is still standing on the original sight. It was sold when the present parsonage was built in 1889. The second church. At the annual meeting held January 7, 1863, a committee was elected to find a more suitable church lot, and to get plans and specifications for a new church. Following is a list of the committee : T. K. Simmons, Hakan Olson, Anders Swenson, C. G. Wernstrom, S. A. Fristedt and Carl Anderson. As a result of the work of this committee, the lot upon which the present church stands, Fifth and West avenues, was bought for $200. A subscription committee composed of C. G. Wernstrom, Anders Larson, Gustaf Carlson and J. Nordquist, was elected to solicit funds for the new church. The work was begun in the summer of 1866 and completed the following year. The building was built of red brick, 36x60 feet in dimension, at a cost of $4,296 with the furnishings. In 1883 a pipe organ was installed at an expense of $2,500. The present church. At the annual meeting January 1, 1893, the congregation decided to begin preparations for a new church building. A building committee was elected as follows : A. Danielson, G. L. Webber, P. J. Peterson, G. A. Johnson, Aaron Anderson, J. P. Carlson, F. J. Linne, N. O. Wallin, P. E. Lindell, P. J. Patterson and Rev. G. East. The following persons were elected to solicit fluids : A. J. Frenn, Aaron Bengtson, A. G. Skoglund, J. F. Erickson, P. A. Lamberg, A. L. Anderson, N. O. Wallin, N. Akenson, Gustaf Isaacson, P. A. Johnson and Rev. G. Rast. It was found that the expenses of the new church, according to the plans which the committee proposed, exceeded greatly the amount which had been solicited, and therefore the matter of building was dropped for a time. But the subscription commit- tee continued its work, and on the 9th of April, 1895, the commit- tee reported a fund of $7,000. By ballot the congregation decided