Salem Lutheran Church

Salem Lutheran Church was organized on October 4, 1872 in the log cabin of Peder Nokken five miles south of Moorhead, Minnesota on the Red River as the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church. Rev. N. T. Ylvisaker organized the church on a missionary journey to the Red River Valley. In 1879 they changed their name to Our Savior's Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Congregation. In 1891 they completed construction of the present structure south of Fargo alongside U.S. 81. In 1892 they changed their name to Salem Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church. The congregation remained active celebrating its 75th and 85th anniversaries. In August 1970 the congregation was dissolved with the church and cemetery becoming the property of the Salem Cemetery Association.

The Salem Lutheran Church records contain the contents of a scrapbook dealing mainly with the various jubilee celebrations. The correspondence contains only several letters including the resignation of Rev. Merland T. Johnson in 1936. The meeting minutes are several notes for 1923-1925, and in 1936 concerning calling a new pastor. The Ladies Aid papers include a proposed and final constitution, both undated, and a short history of the ladies aid written in 1932 in conjunction with the church's 60th anniversary. The subject files include biographical material  including on the Rev. O. E. Dolven, John Headland and S. P. Nokkon families. 
 

Religion