Bethelhem Lutheran Church
a.k.a. Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethlehem Church
Off Co. Hwy. 12, Aitkin, MNThe Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethlehem Church is significant for its association with the substantial Swedish settlement in the hilly lake region south of Aitkin. During the 1880s and 1890s, an influx of Swedish immigrants arrived in Aitkin County, and many settled lake regions between Lake Mille Lacs and Aitkin. By 1900 the townships south of Aitkin (Farm Island, Hazelton, and Nordland) had attained 75% of their peak year population of 1508 (1940), and the Swedes, numbering 979, comprised Aitkin County's largest ethnic group. The Bethlehem Church, the second of five area churches to affiliate with the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Augustana Synod, was organized in 1891 three years after the organization of the region's first Swedish Lutheran congregation. The present church structure, erected in 1897 with donated materials, served as the religious and social center of the surrounding community well into the twentieth century. Today, the church continues to serve the religious needs of the area's inhabitants many of whom are descendants of the region's original settlers. The building, the second oldest extant church edifice in Aitkin County, is considered the best representative structure associated with Swedish immigration because of its physical integrity and longevity of service to the community.
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.