Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church, Fridhem congregation
Description
A sod church with a wooden gabled roof stands in a grass field in this 9.5" x 6.5" sepia-toned photograph. A large crowd of both men and women are gathered outside the church's door. Most of them stand on the left side of the building, though there is also a sizeable crowd on the right.
This church was organized in 1879 at A.P. Falk's sod house in Oneda Township in Kearney County. The first church was built on land given by John Hokanson, SE 1/4 Sec. 22, Divide Township. A sod church was built in 1879 and a frame church in 1891 in Funk. The Nebraska Prairie Museum has a complete history of this church, printed in 1979. The sod church depicted in this photograph was located in the Fridhem cemetery.
