Nordstjernan

The Pillars of Swedish Heritage in Oregon—The Churches

The background
The British writer C.S. Lewis wrote this very beautiful, positive and enlightened statement about Christianity:

“I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen: not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.”

This hopeful Christian message stands in stark contrast to the emigrants’ situation in Sweden during the beginning of the great emigration wave that started in late 1800s, when it was illegal to engage in any private religious study outside the State Church sponsorship. Aside from their religious duties, the ministers (prästerna) of the Church of Sweden did the work of civil servants. Clergy kept the citizenship and tax records, and functioned as local representatives of government and the “upper classes” power that was often used for their purposes. This state system was prone to abuse and stagnation, and many Swedes - both clergy and laity - sought to reform and renew the Church.
This was the religious background the Swedish immigrants brought with them to America. They were officially Lutherans, but many were unhappy with the State Church Christianity in Sweden and sought different forms of religious expressions where they could find happiness in their faith. Some found that other forms of Protestantism were more to their liking, and they formed Swedish Baptist and Swedish Methodist groups, which in turn exported these movements back to Sweden.

The stories
David Wetzell was leading the Christian Church on Rodney Avenue in Portland in 1889, when he submitted a remarkable report to the Christian Standard newspaper.
“Portland, April 18, I made a discovery. I have found a church and preacher in the city of Portland set for the primitive faith. Yesterday the minister of the Swedish Church came to the parsonage accompanied by an interpreter to inquire why we called ourselves Disciples of Christ or Christians.
"We had not talked ten minutes until I discovered that I was talking to a most intelligent man and Bro. Devold, a worthy collaborator of his. This Bro. Erickson has been preaching to his countrymen in this city for about a year, during which time he has taken the confessions of some 20, and now has a congregation of something more than that number.
"They meet in a nice room, which will seat probably a hundred, carpeted and well lighted. In company with Bro. Hyström, who preaches for our people on the east side, I went to their meeting last night, and Bro. Hyström spoke a few words to them in their own tongue (Swedish), and I made a short talk in English, and a more joyous little gathering I never saw.
"They didn’t know that the Americans had a church of like faith in Portland.”
“I heard Bro. Erickson preach last night and while I could understand but little he said, I do not hesitate to pronounce him a fine preacher and a magnificent man. There are nearly 4,000 Scandinavians in the city of Portland and Bro. Erickson is the man to work among them. The larger percentage of them are poor people, which was the profile of most immigrants, but a more intelligent and upright class of people cannot be found.”
A Swedish historical source says the group was established in 1887 and a new mission church was built in 1912 at the corner of Glisan and 17th Avenue, replacing the original mission church.
This is one of the early “pillars of Swedish heritage” that was built by the Swedish churches in Portland, supporting the spiritual needs of Swedish immigrants.

Building the community and places for worship
The immigrants’ world was not an easy world to live in, perhaps not unlike today, but their lack of education and language skills limited their abilities to live a functional and happy life in American society. They struggled with the unknown, the homesickness for the familiar land and community they left behind....

Many a tear was shed when the immigrants heard this text from The Emigrant’s Homesickness, by Samuel Magnus Hill (Augustana College S. M. Hill Collection, Box 4, folder 4, and SRIO book Swedish Oregon):

Oh, dear native land,
to which I so often long and yearn.
This Nordic childhood home,
it is so beautiful in my mind.

Oh, little cabin, which meant so much to me,
when will I get to see you again?
As I walk here crying for myself,
you are such an innocent memory.

There is no other place on earth,
more beloved then one’s childhood home.
Oh, how I long to return to the North,
yes, how gladly I would walk back home.

Belonging to a church played a significant role among Swedish immigrants for their development of contacts, relationships and to serve their spiritual needs as they were still a very religious people.
In newsletters published in Oregon Posten, the Swedish weekly newspaper published in Portland, the items and reports concerning the churches stand out with considerable prominence. One report relative to Colton Swedish Lutheran Church stated, “It is the Swedes who built this community and it is the little church and the faithful congregation that has functioned as the unifying bond which has made accomplishments possible.”
Wherever a group of Swedes settled, small though it may have been, very shortly a church spire, or even several of them, would rise.

Building the churches and congregations
In the 1840s and 1850s various Swedish American leaders began religious activities among their fellow immigrants. Notable denominations include Episcopalian, Methodist, Baptist and Lutheran. In 1851 the Swedish American Lutherans were organized as part of the American Lutheran denomination, but they later broke away to form the independent Augustana Synod, the largest religious group in Swedish America. The growth of these groups was fueled by the waves of Swedish immigrants after 1865, and the denominations struggled to keep up with the demand for pastors and congregations.
The Augustana Synod practiced a Lutheranism influenced by Pietism. Other immigrants thought that Augustana was still too Lutheran, and sought a freer type of Christian organization that relied more heavily on Pietist traditions. This resulted in a break-up among various groups within Augustana and Lutheranism, resulting in two other Swedish American denominations, the Swedish Mission Covenant Church (1885) and the Swedish Evangelical Free Church (1884). These two groups, which worked with the Lutherans, Methodists and Baptists, were the largest religious groups in the Swedish American community.

There are several prominent and active churches in Portland having Swedish roots:

First Immanuel Lutheran Church
Immanuel Lutheran’s first sanctuary was erected in 1886, at Burnside and Tenth. In that sanctuary the Columbia Conference of the Augustana Lutheran Church was organized in 1893.
Later, during the Rev. Carl J. Reinhardt’s pastorate (1904-1910), whose call succeeded the well-known Rev. J. W. Skans who died in 1904, the present sanctuary was built on the southeast corner of Irving Street and 19th Avenue, dedicated in September 1905. The 20th century church in Gothic style features a tall center spire. The sanctuary’s stained glass windows represent a number of Christian symbols in memory of various former members of the congregation and include numerous Swedish inscriptions.
The church interior is designed in the “classical Lutheran austere” style with a beautiful altar piece that reminded the immigrants of the churches in the land they left behind.
First Immanuel Church continues to provide the Swedish community with Swedish holiday events such as Julotta, the Swedish service held early on Christmas morning (otta is the time slightly before dawn). Julotta is held in the Swedish tongue and is frequented by the Swedish community.

Temple Baptist Church
The “mother” church of the Pacific Northwest’s Baptists is Temple Baptist Church at 1319 NE Seventh. Baptists began meeting in 1875, but on January 1, 1884, the First Scandinavian Baptist Church of Portland was organized by Gustaf Liljeroth, which came to be recognized officially as the founding of the First Scandinavian Baptist Church of Portland. The Rev. Olaus Okerson, born in Norra Vram parish, Skåne, Sweden, is known as the early leader of Swedish Baptists in the Northwest.
Baptists in Sweden were at that time harassed by the state church clergy, molested by hoodlums, haunted and jailed by the civil authorities. Okerson was one of many who left for America in increasingly large numbers. He was the Temple Church pastor in 1883-1884 but considered himself a founder of churches rather than a long-term pastor.
He wrote, "I believe that God has sent me here—and now I go out to break the ground in order that others may come after me to water and reap."
The sanctuary, built in Classical style and featuring external Ionic columns, was dedicated in 1927 and renovated in 1973. Even today as Temple Baptist Church, the Swedish roots are still very evident. Underneath the large sign above the steps to the front doors is inscribed in the surface of the building, as well as on the cornerstone, "Swedish Baptist Temple."

Augustana Lutheran Church
Augustana, at 2710 NE 14th Avenue, was founded in 1906 as a Swedish Lutheran congregation of immigrants. It began as the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Congregation of Portland, Oregon. From its inception it has been an intentional part of the community surrounding it.
The first wooden church was built on the corner of Rodney and Stanton in 1906 and served the growing congregation until 1950, when the current brick building was built and dedicated. A 500 pound, 29 inch Peace Bell, built by the Verdin Company, was installed in the 58-year-old bell tower. In 2007 Augustana completed its centennial year, and when the time capsule was unearthed there was a letter from 1906 which proudly declared that the women of Augustana had the same voting rights as the men in church affairs (even though women did not get the right to vote nationally until 1920).
Augustana has changed over the years, moving from all services and classes in Swedish to English only in 1932. Christian education for the youngsters has been an ongoing effort with Sunday School and Confirmation still offered, as is continuing Adult Education, which began in 1932.
The Swedish School of Portland, founded in 1996, is located at Augustana Church where they offer Swedish language classes to children.

Swedish Mission Church
Walking down NW Glisan Street at 17th offers a few hints about the intriguing past of the Mission Theater. When you look at the building’s straightforward, brick construction and fortress-like entryway it appears more like an armory than a theater.
Mission was not originally built as a theater, but as a church! For over 40 years it was the religious and social center of Portland’s humble and devout Swedish Mission Covenant congregation. This building, now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, was dedicated by the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant Church of Portland on February 18, 1912. The auditorium features a U-shaped balcony, its facade decorated with repeating motif of plaster rosettes.
The Swedish Mission constructed it to replace a more traditional wood-framed church that stood for a decade before the brick building was erected. The congregation, at the time numbering more than 200, had outgrown the limited space of the old wooden church. Given the strong devotion to their church work and indeed their church, why did the congregation abandon their spiritual center in 1954?
The area had become more industrial, parking was next to impossible and concern developed for the safety of women and children who walked to church alone. For their new site, the church chose a plot at 45th and Burnside.
The congregation sold the Tabernacle Church in 1953, and it has long served as a site for Longshoremen, Local No. 8 Union, a theater for the “Heart Acting” performing troupe, among others, and finally as McMenamins brewpub group’s first Oregon theater-pub, The Mission Theater (1987).

This short story “Pillars of Swedish Heritage in Oregon-The Churches” is not meant to be a complete history about local religions and their churches, but rather an attempt to paint a colorful picture of support and comfort for the early Swedish immigrants!

Written by Leif Rosqvist,
editor for New Sweden Cultural Heritage Society and SRIO newsletters in Portland, Oregon

"...and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?"
-Micah 6:8

References and Sources:
The book “Oregon and dess svenska befolkning,” by Ernst Skarstedt
SRIO book: Swedish Oregon and pictures from Swedish Society of Linnea.
McMenamins booklet “Mission Theater”

Recommended reading:
SRIO book “Swedish Oregon” and “Oregon Swedes of 1911,” booklet.
Pietism—http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietism

CAPTIONS:

Difficult Goodbye

Farewell to Sweden in Gothenburg

First Immanuel Lutheran Church

The First Immanuel Lutheran Church, Portland, OR, features several stained glass windows with Swedish texts, such as:

Window toward the West.

Saliga
äro de, som
höra
‘Blessed
are they
who hear’

Guds
ord och
gömma
det
‘God’s Word
and
Observe it’

Altar piece

Temple Baptist Church 1927
Inside Temple Baptist Church 1927

Church at Rodney & Stanton

Church at 2710 NE 14th

Portland Tabernacle Church ca 1930

The Immigrant Churches of Oregon