Hennepin County, Minnesota

The First Norwegian Settler

The first person of Norwegian origin to settle in Hennepin County, was a woman named Ingeborg. In 1850, she came to Meomny, about eight miles north of St. Anthony, where she was employed for a time at a small hotel. The City of Minneapolis was founded later, in 1855. It replaced St. Anthony and has, as we know, grown very large. It now extends almost to the place where Ingeborg settled.

She herself related that several years passed before she met anyone else from the Land of the Midnight Sun, from which she had come. About that time, she married an Irishman named Clark.

Her destiny, however, was that she would eventually have a Norwegian husband. Mr. Clark died after a short marriage, and Ingeborg became a widow.

Farther west in Minnesota lived a Norwegian named Michael Johnson. After spending a couple of years at Smith Lake in Wright County, he moved to Acton in Meeker County in 1860. His wife died while they were living there.

A short time later, in the spring of 1864, he went to Hennepin County in search of work. By chance, he came to the home of the aforementioned widow, who owned a farm, horses, livestock, and other property and needed a hired man. Michael Johnson, from the Moen farm in Selbu near Trondheim, was well suited for the position. The two were married in the fall of 1864.

Their home was in Brooklyn Township, where, in the course of time, several other people from Norway, probably from Selbu, settled. A Norwegian Lutheran congregation was established there in 1876.

Ingeborg died some time before this account was written, but Michael Johnson was still living and resided with his son, J. M. Johnson, at 720 Eighth Avenue South in Minneapolis about 1907. Mr. Chris. Swensen, one of Michael Johnson’s former neighbors, who was then living in Robbinsdale, was given the task of finding him. He paid nearly a dozen streetcar fares before succeeding. This illustrates how difficult it was to locate people who could provide reliable information about the early years.

Minneapolis

During the 1850s a Norwegian who lived temporarily in St. Anthony owned Nicollet Island (located in the center of Minneapolis). He claimed the land by preemption and later sold it for $500. He considered this a good transaction because he had obtained the land from the government without payment, that is, by exercising his homestead rights. The property later became worth several million dollars. No further information about this man could be found. Even his name was unknown. All that was known was that he moved westward and became a farmer.

During the 1860s, Norwegians began settling in Minneapolis, which later became the most Norwegian city in America in proportion to its size. By about 1907 Approximately 45,000 of its 300,000 residents were of Norwegian ancestry. 

Churches and Congregations

The Norwegian Lutheran Trefoldigheds Congregation in Minneapolis, which later belonged to the Lutheran Free Church, was established in 1867 by Pastor Nils Olson, who at that time lived in the Christiania Settlement in Dakota County. It was the oldest Norwegian congregation in Hennepin County.

Its first church, which was also the first Norwegian church in the county, was built in 1868 at the corner of Third Street and Thirteenth Avenue South.

Pastor Ole Poulsen was the first Norwegian minister in Minneapolis, having taken charge of the congregation by 1868. Both he and Nils Olson, the founder of the congregation, belonged to the Augustana Synod.

Vor Frelsers Congregation was established in 1869 by Pastor Nils Ylvisaker of the Norwegian Synod. Its first church was built in 1871 on the site where the Great Western Railway Station later stood.

The number of Norwegian congregations had grown to twenty-three, while the number of churches had reached twenty-two. The congregations were distributed as follows: nine belonged to the Norwegian Synod, four to the Lutheran Free Church, two to the United Church, two to the Methodist Church, one to the Evangelical Free Church, one to Hauge’s Synod, one to M. Falck Gjertsen, one to the Brethren, one to the Baptist Church, and one to the Unitarian Church.

Norwegian Newspapers and Periodicals

Nordisk Folkeblad, founded in 1870 by Hjalmar Eger, a student at Kristiania University, was the first Norwegian newspaper published in Minneapolis.

It was followed by Norsk Maanedstidende; Budstikken, a continuation of Fedrelandet og Emigranten and later known as Daglig Tidende and Minneapolis Tidende; Minnesota; Normanna; Norsk Maanedskrift; Folkebladet; Familie-Vennen; Felt-Raabet; Kvartal-Skriftet; Luthersk Børneblad; The North; Saamanden; Samfundet, later known as Lutheraneren; Ungdommens Ven; Det Frie Ord; Krydseren; Viking; Typografstidende; Lynilden; Nye Nordmanden, later known as Politikken; Santhalmissionæren; Gasseren; Luthersk Børneblad; Den Lutherske Missionær; Missionsvennen; Den Forente Kirkes Missionsblad; Vingaardsmanden; Northland Weekly; Children’s Companion; Sønner av Norge; Gaa paa; Vor Tid; Den Kristelige Lægmand; and Kvindens Magasin.

Schools and Institutions

Augsburg Seminary, established in its own building in 1872, was the first Norwegian school in Minneapolis.

It was followed by Wraamann’s Academy, Minnesota Normal School, the United Church’s Seminary, and Skørdalsvold’s School.

For further information, see the section “Norwegian-American Teaching Institutions.”

The Norwegian Lutheran Deaconess Home, founded in 1889, was the first institution of its kind. At the time this account was written, funds were being raised for hospitals.

Sources:

[Ulvestad, Martin. Nordmændene i Amerika. Utg. History Book Company's Forlag. Minneapolis, Minn. 1907.]