AKRON, Iowa -- The Union Creek Lutheran Church, located 5 miles northwest of Akron in South Dakota, is celebrating 135 years since its formal organization on Jan. 10, 1874 in the home of one of the members.
The church will hold a special anniversary service at 9 a.m. on Sunday, Nov. 15, followed by a pot luck dinner (an old Swedish custom) in the church parlors. All are welcome.
The earliest Swedish immigrants were holding Lutheran worship services in their sod houses in the area as early as 1868. Lunch was always served at these services. Twenty-four families were represented at the organizational meeting six years later, and 20 acres of land were secured for the first church.
The first church was built in 1877, mostly from Cottonwood hauled by oxen teams from Missouri River sawmills. The building was 20-by-30-by-10-feet high. One-inch Cottonwood boards were used for seating. The pulpit was a large immigrant box, set on edge and covered with a cloth. A violin played by John Sellberg accompanied the singing.
The first of 304 burials (at last count) in the cemetery north of the church was conducted in 1878. The board of directors has enlarged the cemetery twice.
In 1898, a new church was built south of the cemetery, with a tall steeple with a bell, a real pulpit and factory-made pews. The church was destroyed by a strong wind in 1925. The present church was dedicated in 1926, utilizing the bell, altar, pulpit, marble Baptism font, hymn board and two pillars salvaged from the wreckage of the 1898 building. The basement was remodeled for meetings in 1948; and the old first church, which had been used as a social hall, was sold and moved to Alcester, S.D., where it is still used as a home.
Union Creek Church, now handicapped accessible, has been served by 16 ordained pastors. The first pastor, the Rev. C.L. Beckstrom, received a salary of $25 per year. When no ordained ministers were available, seminary students and other trained Lutheran leaders helped keep the church going.
Longtime member Dennis E. Hultgren, 80, said the church has been blessed by the formation of a new parish with Roseni Lutheran Church, which is located northwest of Union Creek and southwest of Alcester, S.D. A result ot this has been the arrival of the Rev. Carla Nelson from Detroit as pastor of both churches.
Hultgren said two families at Union Creek can trace their ancestry to charter members. Several member families are descendants of charter members Olaf and Catherina Ericson. The Lance and Betsy Johnson family are descendants of charter member Hans Olson.