It all began with an old book again. Somebody gave me the Memorial Book from the 25th jubilee of the Svenska Evangeliska Lutherska St Pauli församlingens minnesalbum. It contained lots of photos and history.

1905 the congregation laid the corner stone for a new church building in Minneapolis in the corner of E 28th St and S15th Ave.

This is a photo of the new church building.

I found today's web site of St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church which presents the church like this: "St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church was founded in 1887 to meet the spiritual needs of the Swedish Lutherans of the Phillips neighborhood of Minneapolis. Much has changed in the neighborhood, but our purpose remains strong- to meet the needs of the neighborhood and faith community, through weekly worship as well as deep community involvement." and understood that the building now was used by a smaller Spanish speaking congregation.

 
I contacted the pastor, Pastor Hierald Osorto, and it ended in a visit by me and Marilyn Wahlstrom. We were met by the original Swedish inscription over the door.
 
Pastor Hierald and his dog Alfie met us and guided us around in the old Swedish church. It was amost a sacred feeling to wander around in the old church built by Swedes.
 
For me the most impressive were all the stained glass windows. Many with Swedish text an Bible citations on)
 
"Your will be done"
(  
 
"Let the little children come to me"
 
Lord Save me
 
 
The church had a vast balcony with lots of small windows around)
         
(foto organ)  

Finally, after some search for electrical breakers in the basement, we succeeded to coax the old organ to life. The organ lid had not been opened during the last 6 years and before that nobody knows how much it had been used. The organ needs overhaul, but I could idenify when Marilyn played "A Mighty Fortress...." on it.
 
And that was what I still thought when we left the church and looked back at it. A mighty fortress built by Swedish immigrants 1905.

My last worried thought was: "How shall we save this historic building with its treasures for the future?"

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