For sale: Oldest remaining Norwegian Lutheran church in the U.S.

It’s quiet inside the old oak walls of this one-room church. The wooden pews are empty and wind whips against aged glass windows.

But in this historic space, it’s not hard to imagine immigrant parishioners crowding in for a Christmas service — clad in heavy coats, singing hymns in Norwegian, their native tongue.

The Old Muskego Church, on the campus of Luther Seminary in St. Paul, was one of the first Norwegian Lutheran churches in the United States when it was built in the 1840s. It is the oldest still standing.

But its future isn’t clear. As Luther Seminary plans to sell its campus, ripe for redevelopment in St. Paul’s desirable St. Anthony Park neighborhood, the old church it has cared for for more than 100 years is expected to sell with it. Old Muskego has some protections because it’s listed on the National Register of Historic Places, but those who love the church hope to see its new owners preserve it for future generations.

“I hope that it survives with someone who’s taking care of it, looking out for it. Maybe making use of it, so that people can come and see it,” said Kristin Anderson, a professor emerita of art and design at Augsburg University who grew up near Luther and studied at the seminary. She serves on the board of the Norwegian-American Historical Association.

That Old Muskego is still standing at all is a bit of an unlikely story. Settlers in Muskego, Wis., southwest of Milwaukee, built it in the Norwegian style with the materials they had at hand.

The building was not intended to be a permanent church, but was used by its first congregation for about 25 years, said Caleb Rollins, Luther’s head of archives and arts. When the congregation raised enough money to build a more permanent church, they sold the building to a farmer.

In the late 1890s, someone touring the Midwest by bicycle — a popular kind of adventure at the time — is said to have discovered the old church and advocated for its preservation.

After some disagreement over which denomination was the rightful heir to Old Muskego, the church was taken apart log by log, its pieces numbered and moved to St. Paul, Rollins said. There, it was restored and reassembled, and its altar, pulpit, pews and other furniture — sold to a furniture company by the previous farmer owner — were reconstructed, likely based on the recollections of those who had attended church there.

Old Muskego became part of life at Luther.

Students practiced giving sermons from its raised pulpit. It hosted Norwegian royal family members, among other dignitaries. It’s been the site of weddings, confirmation class visits, and has played host to many Norwegian Constitution Day and Lefse on the Lawn gatherings, said Paul Daniels, Luther’s former archivist.

Old Muskego may not be original to Minnesota, but it fits into the state’s immigration history. More than 800,000 Minnesotans claim Norwegian ancestry, according to the State Demographic Center — second only to German. Mainline Lutherans are one of the state’s largest religious groups to this day, according to Pew Research Center.

The church also became part of the neighborhood fabric.

“As a kid, it was an intriguing place. And once in a while, kids would get in,” Anderson said. “Not break in, but you knew who had a key.”

Old Muskego was listed on the National Historic Register in 1975. That designation gives it some protection as the future of Luther’s campus shakes out.

Any exterior alterations, new construction or demolition would have to be reviewed by St. Paul’s Heritage Preservation Commission at a public hearing, said George Gause, St. Paul’s supervisor of historic preservation, in an email. Any action by the commission can be appealed to the St. Paul City Council.

Daniels said he’s concerned about the future of Old Muskego, but not overly so. With all the interested parties, the seminary, historic preservationists and neighbors are “going to be really thoughtful about this. It’s not going to be an afterthought.”

Ideally, whoever buys the site will have a strong commitment to preserving Old Muskego, she said.

Any new development could rise around it. Or the church could potentially move again.