Today Logan Square’s Minnekirken seems somewhat diminutive. It was not so before trees matured and increased land values called for taller buildings to surround it. In Norwegian minnekirken means “memorial church” and that is a part of its official name: Norske Lutherske Minnekirken (Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church). As the church was being finished in 1912 it would have towered over its corner of the Square and its spire would have directed congregants to its doors.
The church was built in two phases, as funds would allow. Danish-American Charles Ferdinand Sorensen was the architect; Danish-American Soren N. Nielsen was the masonry contractor. The first permit was issued in April 1908 and called for a 40-foot by 89-foot structure of $7,000. (Note that Chicago permit amounts are misleading since the cost only accounted for the exterior and were purposely underreported since permit fees were prorated). The cornerstone was placed on Palm Sunday, April 12, 1908.
By July, the basement was finished and covered with a temporary roof. The congregation began using it as their place of worship and other activities. Today, that space is called festsalen or fellowship hall. The auditorium and steeple were built in 1912. The second permit called for a $10,000 structure on the same footprint. The church was dedicated as Kristus Norske Lutherske Kirke (Christ Norwegian Lutheran Church) on Sunday, October 6, 1912.
KEY ARCHITECTURAL FEATURES
- Buttress brackets
- Restored windows
- Gothic arches
- Gothic crosses
The best way to fully grasp the intricate details of the façade is to take a seat on the grass across the street under the Illinois Centennial Monument. Sorensen used all the knowledge he gained from his years of design, including more than a few churches, to create a draw for the eyes and to draw people inside. With a central tower above a single main entry, it resembles many Norwegian churches, but it is said to be modeled after Bragenes Church in Drammen, Norway (an Oslo suburb). Do clues to the construction phases still exist on the exterior?
Chicago’s architects were master style mixers, especially when it came to churches. The Minnekirken’s style can be called flamboyant French Gothic Revival. During the early 1900s, designers transitioned the Boulevard’s facades from Bedford greystone to red brick. The church demonstrates that change. Limestone was still used, but as accents, in the elaborate entrance, under and over windows, and for scrolled buttress brackets (1).
The beautiful stained-glass windows (2) that perforate the front and run along the sides are original and were recently restored with financial assistance from Logan Square Preservation. Together with the congregation, more than $35,000 was raised to restore the windows facing the Square. The Church agreed to light the windows from the interior to provide a backdrop of colored patterns every evening.
Gothic (sharp-pointed) arches (3) of different materials are everywhere and probably number in the dozens. Another obvious feature are Gothic stone crosses (4). Imagine all these exquisite details being subjected to the city’s harsh weather cycles for over 100 years.
When a preliminary study for restoring the street-facing façade and the sides of the spire was carried out in 2019, the estimated price tag reached over half a million dollars. Looking at the exterior while reading through the work list one can see how daunting it is: repair and replace broken brick and tuckpointing, remove limestone masonry pieces and reinstall with metal anchors, repair or rebuild deteriorated masonry parapets around the tower, repair decorative sheet metal and copper copings and roof flashing, and rebuild displaced masonry piers and missing ornamental masonry.
A Church is Organized
It was 1905 and Christiania (renamed Oslo in 1925), Norway was the only city in the world that has more Norwegians than Chicago. Seventy years before, there were just two Norwegians here. By 1848, there were over 50 immigrants. By 1856, a Norwegian Lutheran Church was dedicated at the corner of Franklin and Erie Streets. Norwegian-Americans and new arrivals kept moving northwestwards along Milwaukee Avenue to Wicker Park, and then just to the east of Humboldt Park.
After the turn of the 20th century, the Logan Square neighborhood became the heart of the Chicago’s Norwegian community, with specialty shops, clubs and singing societies. Of course, it was home to many other nationalities from Northern Europe at the same time. Like all immigrants, Norwegian-Americans decided to build a local church where they could pray in their native tongue in their traditional form of worship. It was one of the few ties that remained between them and their homeland.
The original Christ Norwegian Lutheran Church congregation was organized June 29, 1905, by 28 residents, and Reverend Johan H. Meyer was persuaded to become its pastor. This event happened to coincide with the peaceful separation of Norway from Sweden.
Rev. Meyer came from the Zion Norwegian Lutheran Church at Artesian and Potomac Avenues. Zion’s congregants had themselves persuaded the minister to leave New York City in June 1897. Architect Sorensen started working on a church design the next year, but the project was delayed for several more until its dedication in 1902. Still standing but no longer a religious building, its exterior is devoid of the flourishes of the Minnekirken.
Initially, the Logan Square group purchased several lots near the corner of Kedzie Avenue and Emmett Street. Rev. Meyer moved there and a small chapel was established. But within a couple of years, they had a chance for a much more prominent location and sold off this property to pay for it. Today, the original site serves CTA buses.
Christ Church purchased a 50-foot by 151-foot lot from I.H. Himes for $3,325 in February 1908. Photographs show a few wooden shacks, probably stores, already on the site. A map from the origins of the boulevard system around 1870 indicates a wide swath of land on the west side of the Square under the control of Hitt, Hardin, & Hitt, a major Chicago real estate firm. Hines, another realtor, then bought a sizable piece fronting the Square in 1891, but it took him years to sell pieces off.
Rev. Meyer bought the lot to the north in 1909 after he and his wife returned from a trip to Norway. A three-story flat was constructed that became (and still is) the church parsonage. Although also designed by Sorensen, it bears no resemblance to its neighbor. Instead, it looks like a typical brick Chicago apartment house. The Reverend lived on the third floor with his wife, Mathilda (nee Pearson), who was a native of Sweden.
Interior
The church’s beautiful auditorium/sanctuary is said to remain largely unchanged since it was completed in 1912. For now, visits to the interior can be made virtually through the Church website.
The auditorium is known for its superb acoustics. The ceiling is made of the original tin tiles. Interior woodwork would have been overseen by master carpenter Gabriel Johan Tobiassen, who also happened to be church treasurer. There is a grand piano and an organ to accompany the singing of congregants, although the organ pipes are no longer connected.
The stained-glass windows show and tell key Christian scriptures and symbols. Each is unique. The windows were gifts, with the donors’ names inscribed on each. Windows along the north wall were donated by the founding members; windows along the south wall were donated by various church groups. The largest window — “The Good Shepherd” — appears over the balcony and faces Logan Square. Some of the north and south windows have been restored; unfortunately, most still need work.
Image: Chicago Norske Club, 2350 N. Kedzie Boulevard, c. 1917.
Though as eager to adapt to American culture as most immigrants, Norwegians still sponsored nationalistic organizations in the neighborhood. The Chicago Norwegian Club was formed in 1911 by the union of the venerable Norwegian Quartette Club and the old Norwegian Club. It built a large clubhouse at 2350 North Kedzie Boulevard in 1916. Today, it is a condominium building. The Normennenes (Men of the North) Singing Society purchased the Albert H. Troyke House at 2414 North Kedzie and enlarged it for their use in 1948. Founded the year before the Great Chicago Fire, the group presently uses the facilities of the Estonian House in Riverwoods, Ill. And don’t forget about the Logan Square Norwegian Baptist Church (now also condominiums), right around the corner at 3232 West Wrightwood Avenue, which was here first in 1903.
At the 12th anniversary of its founding in 1917, the church still carried $12,000 in debt. That was understandable, since the constructed and furnished cost was said to have totaled to $50,000
Difficulties
The congregation of Christ Church struggled financially during the 1920s, even before the Great Depression made things much worse. Pastor Rev. Jens C. Roseland took over in 1929, and Rev. Meyer moved on to form another congregation — Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church at Barry and Neenah Avenues in 1930. Roseland carried on the traditions for a short time before passing away in December 1930.
The Rev. Otto E. Hesla was listed as Pastor by the next year. But in 1932, it was reported that the congregation merged with Parkside Lutheran Church. The combined congregations retained the Christ Church name and occupied the Parkside Lutheran building at Parkside and Barry Avenues, which was erected in 1929; Rev. Hesla continued as pastor there. The building on Kedzie Boulevard was closed.
Dismayed at the fate of the congregation he helped found in Logan Square, Rev. Meyer returned, determined to revitalize the church. It reopened in 1934 under the name Norwegian Lutheran Memorial Church or simply “Minnekirken.” He retired as pastor after the death of Mathilda in January 1936, only to die the following December.
Reverend Johan H. Meyer, who had been born June 4, 1862, in Vik, Helgeland, Norway, led Lutheran ministries for 48 years. His evangelical fervor resulted in founding congregations in New York City and South Chicago, Ill., along with the several mentioned in Chicago.
Resurgence
Over the years, demographics shifted and most families of Norwegian origin scattered to the suburbs, other states, and even back to Norway. Ethnic stores closed, clubs disbanded or moved elsewhere, and people stopped coming back to Logan Square. But a core of devoted parishioners persisted, and the Church survives as the last Norwegian-speaking congregation in Chicago. It is also one of only two congregations in the entire United States that regularly uses the Norwegian language, hymns, and liturgy.
Through the last several decades, Minnekirken has again become the heart of Norwegian culture — this time for all of Chicagoland. Sunday services occur each and every week, as well as many seasonal, cultural, and community events. Andrew Schneider, president of Logan Square Preservation, pointed out that the Church “made a commitment to the neighborhood when it opted into the Logan Square Boulevards Historic District when it was not mandatory due to its position as a religious building.” It was the only church that opted into this landmark designation in 2005.
Today, Minnekirken serves as a reminder of a neighborhood heritage long past in which Scandinavians — Norwegians, Swedes, Danes, Finns, northern Germans — played a significant part. The early 20th century structures around the Square and boulevards are courtesy of these merchants, manufacturers and professionals and their counterparts in the building trades, such as architects, masons, carpenters and plumbers.
During his October 16, 1975 visit to the church, King Olav V of Norway stated: “This house of God stands as a living memorial to how vital it was for the immigrants from Norway to bring with them the core of the Christian legacy of faith of their homeland.”
For more information on Minnekirken, visit:
minnekirken-chicago.org
Donations to the restoration of the Minnekirken façade can be made through:
charity.gofundme.com/norwegian-lutheran-memorial-church
