Our Saviour's Lutheran Church |
Our Saviour's Lutheran Church history
THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF OUR SAVIOUR’S LUTHERAN, ABRIDGED
In the beginning
More than 150 years ago, Herman Amberg Preus, a pastor in Norway, accepted a call from a
Lutheran congregation in Spring Prairie, Wisconsin. A few years later, in 1853, he and six other
pastors formed the Norwegian Lutheran Synod to serve the state’s vast number of Norwegian-
born settlers. Around that time, Pastor Preus also organized a Lutheran parish in Madison and
tirelessly served both his Spring Prairie and Madison congregations. Eventually, Pastor S.
Gunderson joined him and the two shared their work.
A quarter-century or so later, the Norwegian Synod opened a clergy-training school in a building on
the corner of Spaight and Brearly Streets in a building known as “The Orphans’ Home”—a place
that once housed children of Wisconsin soldiers killed in the Civil War.
Shortly after the school began, however, divisions among the synod’s members occurred over the
“election of grace” teaching. As a result, a number of men, including Johannes Ylvisaker, H.G.
Stub, Peder Hektoen, John Rowe, Martin Iverson, M. Starkson, Torkel Hagen and Soren Olsen,
organized a new congregation that adhered to the Lutheran Confessions of the year 1580.
That new congregation, formed March 10, 1887, was Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, with Pastor H.
A. Stub leading the fold. For the first 10 years of its existence, the church held services in The
Orphans’ Home.
The early years
As they still do today, women played a vibrant role in the early congregation. And shortly after the
congregation’s new home, a lovely church of pressed brick, was erected at 1 S. Hancock Street,
the Women’s Aid Society paid the $7,900 debt for the land and building almost in its entirety. Our
Saviour’s members dedicated their new building Oct. 3, 1897.
By 1906, the congregation’s membership had grown to 150 and it acquired a house at 405 E.
Washington Avenue to use as a parsonage for its pastor at the time, Holden M. Olson, although he
soon wedded Our Saviour’s member Guida Winden and moved to 110 S. Butler Street. For some
time, Pastor Olson preached one English sermon and one Norwegian sermon to his congregation.
In 1910, the Dorcas Society beautified the church with an altar window; that window has survived
95 years and hangs in our church today. During this period the Sunday School had more than 100
children and the confirmation class of 1917 included 28 students.
When Pastor Olson became president of Bethany College, Mankato, MN, in 1922, the congregation
called Sigurd Ylivisaker, son of charter member Johannes Ylvisaker, who lived with members until
the church’s new parsonage at 13 S. Hancock St. was complete. As Madison’s population had
grown to more than 38,000, the young pastor saw the need for a church on the city’s east side and
in 1927, a daughter congregation, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Cross, formed, with
the Christian day school opening the next year.
After not one, but two calls requesting his presence, Pastor Ylivisaker left to become president of
Bethany College in 1930 and Adolph M. Harstad signed on as pastor.
According to the 100-year church history, “Early and late Pastor Harstad was busy calling on all his
members, especially the ill and the elderly. … His sermons abounded with Scripture. Morning by
morning he and his Model A Ford made the rounds to pick up children and transport them to Holy
Cross Christian Day School. At the close of the school day they had to be returned home and again
he was on the job, assisted at times by members and the pastor of Holy Cross.” Pastor Harstad,
who even preached via the WIBA radio waves, accepted a call to a parish in Princeton, MN, in 1946.
Very early each Sunday morning, the congregation’s new pastor, Nils Oesleby, taught God’s Word
to occupants of the city jail before conducting regular services at the church. Once a month, he
preached in Norwegian and for a time, conducted services at 5 p.m. Sundays.
A growing congregation
At this time, Lutherans throughout Madison were energized and active. In 1945, Our Saviour’s
joined Holy Cross and churches from the Wisconsin and Missouri Synods in opening the Madison
Lutheran School on Spaight Street. The Dorcas Society changed its name to the Ruth Guild, Holy
Cross Church and School were growing, and Grace Lutheran Church opened as a mission
congregation at 1 S. Rosa Road on Madison’s west side.
In the 1960s, Our Saviour’s grew to the point that it needed to purchase a bus to transport to and
from Sunday School. The choir presented a concert at Bethany College and the junior choir often
sang during Sunday services. And for three years, Thomas Kuster joined his father, Pastor Arnold
Kuster, as the congregation’s assistant pastor. And in 1970, Charlotte Edwards became the
church’s “parish worker.” “Working with the youth, doing secretarial work, keeping church records,
mimeographing, mailing, etc. were worthwhile happenings, but the most gratifying experiences
were visiting the elderly and shut-ins,” she wrote in the Our Saviour’s 90-year history.
In May 1974, after much study and discussion, church members broke ground for a new building
at this location, which they dedicated Dec. 8 of that same year. Both the historic altar window and
the congregation’s Austin pipe organ occupied space in the new church. In 1982, the congregation
purchased the house at 1109 Droster Road to use as a parsonage.
The move was a good one for Our Saviour’s: The church had more than 350 members—more
than half of whom were members who joined after the church’s east-side relocation. Pastor Philip
Vangen conducted Bible classes on Sunday and Wednesday mornings. A mothers’ group met on
Fridays. There were two Sunday services and Vesper services each Wednesday.
After Pastor Vangen left in 1986 to further his education at Concordia College, Fort Wayne, Indiana,
Our Saviour’s called Bradley Homan—whose home congregation was Grace Lutheran on the city’
s west side—to be its pastor.
The church experienced growing pains once more and, in the mid-1990s, members decided to
expand, relocating the church entrance and narthex, and adding this fellowship hall above and
Sunday School classrooms below. Construction was almost finished by October 1996 and
recently, with much planning and effort, members redecorated the church with rich plum and
burgundy colors—a welcome change from the harvest gold of the 1970s.
Now it is 2005 and Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church has existed for 118 years. In his message in
the publication, “Growing in God’s Grace: 1974 to 1999,” Pastor Homan wrote that the consistent
theme within our church is change. “No matter how hard we resist change,” he wrote, “it is going to
happen. As people of God, who look to a future prepared by God, we should see change as
another opportunity to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to our community. For it is in time of
change that people look for more security. Our one constant is God’s Word, which never changes.
This Word teaches us of Jesus Christ, who is the greatest security we can ever know. … Let us
embrace change as God’s way of expanding His Kingdom, while we remember that God’s love for
us never changes.”
In the beginning
More than 150 years ago, Herman Amberg Preus, a pastor in Norway, accepted a call from a
Lutheran congregation in Spring Prairie, Wisconsin. A few years later, in 1853, he and six other
pastors formed the Norwegian Lutheran Synod to serve the state’s vast number of Norwegian-
born settlers. Around that time, Pastor Preus also organized a Lutheran parish in Madison and
tirelessly served both his Spring Prairie and Madison congregations. Eventually, Pastor S.
Gunderson joined him and the two shared their work.
A quarter-century or so later, the Norwegian Synod opened a clergy-training school in a building on
the corner of Spaight and Brearly Streets in a building known as “The Orphans’ Home”—a place
that once housed children of Wisconsin soldiers killed in the Civil War.
Shortly after the school began, however, divisions among the synod’s members occurred over the
“election of grace” teaching. As a result, a number of men, including Johannes Ylvisaker, H.G.
Stub, Peder Hektoen, John Rowe, Martin Iverson, M. Starkson, Torkel Hagen and Soren Olsen,
organized a new congregation that adhered to the Lutheran Confessions of the year 1580.
That new congregation, formed March 10, 1887, was Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, with Pastor H.
A. Stub leading the fold. For the first 10 years of its existence, the church held services in The
Orphans’ Home.
The early years
As they still do today, women played a vibrant role in the early congregation. And shortly after the
congregation’s new home, a lovely church of pressed brick, was erected at 1 S. Hancock Street,
the Women’s Aid Society paid the $7,900 debt for the land and building almost in its entirety. Our
Saviour’s members dedicated their new building Oct. 3, 1897.
By 1906, the congregation’s membership had grown to 150 and it acquired a house at 405 E.
Washington Avenue to use as a parsonage for its pastor at the time, Holden M. Olson, although he
soon wedded Our Saviour’s member Guida Winden and moved to 110 S. Butler Street. For some
time, Pastor Olson preached one English sermon and one Norwegian sermon to his congregation.
In 1910, the Dorcas Society beautified the church with an altar window; that window has survived
95 years and hangs in our church today. During this period the Sunday School had more than 100
children and the confirmation class of 1917 included 28 students.
When Pastor Olson became president of Bethany College, Mankato, MN, in 1922, the congregation
called Sigurd Ylivisaker, son of charter member Johannes Ylvisaker, who lived with members until
the church’s new parsonage at 13 S. Hancock St. was complete. As Madison’s population had
grown to more than 38,000, the young pastor saw the need for a church on the city’s east side and
in 1927, a daughter congregation, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Cross, formed, with
the Christian day school opening the next year.
After not one, but two calls requesting his presence, Pastor Ylivisaker left to become president of
Bethany College in 1930 and Adolph M. Harstad signed on as pastor.
According to the 100-year church history, “Early and late Pastor Harstad was busy calling on all his
members, especially the ill and the elderly. … His sermons abounded with Scripture. Morning by
morning he and his Model A Ford made the rounds to pick up children and transport them to Holy
Cross Christian Day School. At the close of the school day they had to be returned home and again
he was on the job, assisted at times by members and the pastor of Holy Cross.” Pastor Harstad,
who even preached via the WIBA radio waves, accepted a call to a parish in Princeton, MN, in 1946.
Very early each Sunday morning, the congregation’s new pastor, Nils Oesleby, taught God’s Word
to occupants of the city jail before conducting regular services at the church. Once a month, he
preached in Norwegian and for a time, conducted services at 5 p.m. Sundays.
A growing congregation
At this time, Lutherans throughout Madison were energized and active. In 1945, Our Saviour’s
joined Holy Cross and churches from the Wisconsin and Missouri Synods in opening the Madison
Lutheran School on Spaight Street. The Dorcas Society changed its name to the Ruth Guild, Holy
Cross Church and School were growing, and Grace Lutheran Church opened as a mission
congregation at 1 S. Rosa Road on Madison’s west side.
In the 1960s, Our Saviour’s grew to the point that it needed to purchase a bus to transport to and
from Sunday School. The choir presented a concert at Bethany College and the junior choir often
sang during Sunday services. And for three years, Thomas Kuster joined his father, Pastor Arnold
Kuster, as the congregation’s assistant pastor. And in 1970, Charlotte Edwards became the
church’s “parish worker.” “Working with the youth, doing secretarial work, keeping church records,
mimeographing, mailing, etc. were worthwhile happenings, but the most gratifying experiences
were visiting the elderly and shut-ins,” she wrote in the Our Saviour’s 90-year history.
In May 1974, after much study and discussion, church members broke ground for a new building
at this location, which they dedicated Dec. 8 of that same year. Both the historic altar window and
the congregation’s Austin pipe organ occupied space in the new church. In 1982, the congregation
purchased the house at 1109 Droster Road to use as a parsonage.
The move was a good one for Our Saviour’s: The church had more than 350 members—more
than half of whom were members who joined after the church’s east-side relocation. Pastor Philip
Vangen conducted Bible classes on Sunday and Wednesday mornings. A mothers’ group met on
Fridays. There were two Sunday services and Vesper services each Wednesday.
After Pastor Vangen left in 1986 to further his education at Concordia College, Fort Wayne, Indiana,
Our Saviour’s called Bradley Homan—whose home congregation was Grace Lutheran on the city’
s west side—to be its pastor.
The church experienced growing pains once more and, in the mid-1990s, members decided to
expand, relocating the church entrance and narthex, and adding this fellowship hall above and
Sunday School classrooms below. Construction was almost finished by October 1996 and
recently, with much planning and effort, members redecorated the church with rich plum and
burgundy colors—a welcome change from the harvest gold of the 1970s.
Now it is 2005 and Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church has existed for 118 years. In his message in
the publication, “Growing in God’s Grace: 1974 to 1999,” Pastor Homan wrote that the consistent
theme within our church is change. “No matter how hard we resist change,” he wrote, “it is going to
happen. As people of God, who look to a future prepared by God, we should see change as
another opportunity to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to our community. For it is in time of
change that people look for more security. Our one constant is God’s Word, which never changes.
This Word teaches us of Jesus Christ, who is the greatest security we can ever know. … Let us
embrace change as God’s way of expanding His Kingdom, while we remember that God’s love for
us never changes.”
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