Alf Brorson of Torsby, Sweden, in his book published in Swedish, Vägen Till Lindsborg (The Road to Lindsborg) states, "these Swedish emigrants coming to America and to the Lindsborg area were not the very poor indigents but had some financial means to assist in settling the Smoky Valley."
-- Bill Carlson's 2011 Lindsborg Then and Lindsborg Now, page 63
-- Bill Carlson's 2011 Lindsborg Then and Lindsborg Now, page 63
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
<> The Swedish American Living Legacy of Lindsborg, Kansas, and Bethany College <>
Dear Viewers:
In the midst of the beautiful Smoky Valley located on the Great Plains of Kansas was established the little Swedish American city of Lindsborg in 1869 by a group of 35 pietistic Christian families, numbering 110.** Arriving in June of that year were these Swedish immigrants from the Värmland region, part of a larger group, which were led by Pastor Olof Olsson (1841-1900) who was born in Karlskoga, Sweden.
In that same year in August, the twenty-eight-year-old (28) Pastor Olsson founded the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany Church (today known as Bethany Church) which, in turn, became a member of the Augustana Lutheran Synod. The Pastor was educated at the Swedish universities of Stockholm and Upsala, and spent a year in the Missionary Institute at Leipzig, Germany. (He would one day become a prominent Swedish American Lutheran clergyman of the Augustana Lutheran Synod and third president of the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran College in Rock Island, Illinois, serving from 1891 to 1899.)
The First Swedish Agricultural Company of McPherson County organized in Chicago in 1868 purchased 13,160 acres of Kansas land in Saline and McPherson counties from the Union Pacific Railroad for the purpose of providing homesteads to these Värmland Swedes who by the Company mandate were required to be believing Christians adhering to the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Already settling a few months earlier in these two counties on parcels of the 14,800 acres purchased from the Salina National Land Company, a subsidiary of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, were the Swedes belonging to the Illinois Galesburg Colonization Company who were also Lutheran Christians many of whom were from the Dalarna and Småland provinces of Sweden who had immigrated to America earlier on. They were pastored by 1861 graduate of the first class of Chicago's Augustana Seminary Rev. Anders Wilhelm (A.W.) Dahlsten, their Colony leader. Their Swedish settlements-to-be, Salemsborg and Freemont, were made possible by the "search for land" committee, composed of President Olof Thorstenberg, Secretary John P. Stromquist, John Rodell, Gustaf Johnson, and William Johnson.***
Thus, in 1869, was the confluence of these scattered Swedish Lutheran settlements in this part of the Kansas Smoky Valley, forming the settlements of Lindsborg, Salemsborg, Freemount, Smolan, Falun and other Swedish hamlets. From these would come future Swedish farmers responsible for producing thousands of acres of wheat and milo in the years to come.
On February 20, 1869, the Lindsborg name had been adopted by the Värmland Swedes at the meeting of the First Swedish Agricultural Company. The name of Lindsborg, its first syllable of "Linds," was derived from the surnames of First Swedish Agricultural Company members such as Lindell, Lindh, Lindgren, Lindey and Lindberg. The second syllable of the name "borg" translated means "city" or "fortified place."
In 1881, on October 15th, this farming community with a population of 700, became the home of Bethany Lutheran Academy, later known as Bethany Lutheran College, founded by the dynamic twenty-four-year-old (24) Swedish American second pastor of the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany Church, Carl Aaron Swensson (1857-1904) who had become an ordained minister on June 22, 1879, of the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Augustana Synod.
Due to Swensson's faith, vision, leadership, eye and ear for talent, and "can do" spirit; and with the immediate beginnings of what would become a fine college museum, Bethany College was to become a fine cultural mecca of education. It would draw many to its superb music and art programs, culminating with the nationally and internationally known annual Easter Holy Week performances of the prominent German-British Baroque composer George Frideric Handel's Messiah and, in time, the College would give birth to an art movement created by Swedish artist college professor Birger Sandzén (1871-1954) whose works would grace the walls of Sweden's major art galleries, and would be regionally and nationally acclaimed and specifically desired by Swedish American and Swedish art lovers to this day.
Traveling to Bethany College fresh from Paris in 1894, at twenty-three, European taught artist Sven Birger Sandzén and student of renown Sweden's artist Anders Zorn, he was destined to establish in his teaching techniques, "a contagious love for art and its understanding" within this rural community that continues today. The year after Sandzén’s arrival, in the first Bethany Annual (the yearbook of that day), Swensson's ad succinctly, powerfully and with great zeal, describes the disciplines of the College and notes that there was "no equal in the West for Bethany’s Music and Art Programs. "
In 1901, Swensson received the order of the "Knights of the North Star" from King Oscar II (1829-1907) of Sweden, as a result of his many contributions and promoting Swedish life through the church, the college, and beyond Lindsborg. Sandzén was also knighted by the Swedish Crown in 1940. These two Swedish gentlemen would be two (2) of fourteen (14) such Lindsborg residents of the Bethany College family to be honored in such a way by the Swedish Crown, from the period of time beginning in 1901 to 2014.
Driving those pioneer and post-pioneer years of the Swedish Kansas Smoky Valley Lindsborg and its surrounding Swedish enclaves, however, was the unmovable foundational Christian faith found in their Augustana Lutheran Synod churches: Bethany Lutheran Church, the Salemsborg Lutheran Church, and the Freemount Lutheran Church, all of which were founded in 1869, the year of Lindsborg's founding. However, the Bethany Lutheran Church gave birth, through its former members of the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant Church in 1878, and to the Messiah Lutheran Church, in 1908, the first English speaking church in Lindsborg. There were also two significant non-Lutheran denominations that were established in Lindsborg, most notably, the Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church of 1876 and the Swedish Baptist Church of 1892. All these churches have played major spiritual Christian roles in Lindsborg and continue to do so.
Lindsborg as well as all Swedish American communities in the United States, in 1937 were called to task in establishing a $750,000 endowment for Philadelphia’s American Swedish Historical Museum for the 1938 300th Anniversary of the founding of New Sweden in North America. As these Swedes were addressed then in an instructional brochure as the "Sons and Daughters of a People that Helped Lay the Foundations of the Republic," they too were hard at work to ensure that this great museum's life would go on into perpetuity!
Somewhere in the early 1960's, the Lindsborg of Kansas became known as "Little Sweden, U.S.A." Earlier, it may be that Lindsborg was referred to as "Little Swedish Lindsborg," so described in Swensson's 1897 book, Again in Sweden, in the first chapter, "Off for Sweden," in the second paragraph where Swensson writes: "But as of yet, I am still in, little, Swedish Lindsborg, in faraway Kansas."
In the midst of the beautiful Smoky Valley located on the Great Plains of Kansas was established the little Swedish American city of Lindsborg in 1869 by a group of 35 pietistic Christian families, numbering 110.** Arriving in June of that year were these Swedish immigrants from the Värmland region, part of a larger group, which were led by Pastor Olof Olsson (1841-1900) who was born in Karlskoga, Sweden.
In that same year in August, the twenty-eight-year-old (28) Pastor Olsson founded the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany Church (today known as Bethany Church) which, in turn, became a member of the Augustana Lutheran Synod. The Pastor was educated at the Swedish universities of Stockholm and Upsala, and spent a year in the Missionary Institute at Leipzig, Germany. (He would one day become a prominent Swedish American Lutheran clergyman of the Augustana Lutheran Synod and third president of the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran College in Rock Island, Illinois, serving from 1891 to 1899.)
The First Swedish Agricultural Company of McPherson County organized in Chicago in 1868 purchased 13,160 acres of Kansas land in Saline and McPherson counties from the Union Pacific Railroad for the purpose of providing homesteads to these Värmland Swedes who by the Company mandate were required to be believing Christians adhering to the doctrine of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Already settling a few months earlier in these two counties on parcels of the 14,800 acres purchased from the Salina National Land Company, a subsidiary of the Kansas Pacific Railroad, were the Swedes belonging to the Illinois Galesburg Colonization Company who were also Lutheran Christians many of whom were from the Dalarna and Småland provinces of Sweden who had immigrated to America earlier on. They were pastored by 1861 graduate of the first class of Chicago's Augustana Seminary Rev. Anders Wilhelm (A.W.) Dahlsten, their Colony leader. Their Swedish settlements-to-be, Salemsborg and Freemont, were made possible by the "search for land" committee, composed of President Olof Thorstenberg, Secretary John P. Stromquist, John Rodell, Gustaf Johnson, and William Johnson.***
Thus, in 1869, was the confluence of these scattered Swedish Lutheran settlements in this part of the Kansas Smoky Valley, forming the settlements of Lindsborg, Salemsborg, Freemount, Smolan, Falun and other Swedish hamlets. From these would come future Swedish farmers responsible for producing thousands of acres of wheat and milo in the years to come.
On February 20, 1869, the Lindsborg name had been adopted by the Värmland Swedes at the meeting of the First Swedish Agricultural Company. The name of Lindsborg, its first syllable of "Linds," was derived from the surnames of First Swedish Agricultural Company members such as Lindell, Lindh, Lindgren, Lindey and Lindberg. The second syllable of the name "borg" translated means "city" or "fortified place."
In 1881, on October 15th, this farming community with a population of 700, became the home of Bethany Lutheran Academy, later known as Bethany Lutheran College, founded by the dynamic twenty-four-year-old (24) Swedish American second pastor of the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany Church, Carl Aaron Swensson (1857-1904) who had become an ordained minister on June 22, 1879, of the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Augustana Synod.
Due to Swensson's faith, vision, leadership, eye and ear for talent, and "can do" spirit; and with the immediate beginnings of what would become a fine college museum, Bethany College was to become a fine cultural mecca of education. It would draw many to its superb music and art programs, culminating with the nationally and internationally known annual Easter Holy Week performances of the prominent German-British Baroque composer George Frideric Handel's Messiah and, in time, the College would give birth to an art movement created by Swedish artist college professor Birger Sandzén (1871-1954) whose works would grace the walls of Sweden's major art galleries, and would be regionally and nationally acclaimed and specifically desired by Swedish American and Swedish art lovers to this day.
Traveling to Bethany College fresh from Paris in 1894, at twenty-three, European taught artist Sven Birger Sandzén and student of renown Sweden's artist Anders Zorn, he was destined to establish in his teaching techniques, "a contagious love for art and its understanding" within this rural community that continues today. The year after Sandzén’s arrival, in the first Bethany Annual (the yearbook of that day), Swensson's ad succinctly, powerfully and with great zeal, describes the disciplines of the College and notes that there was "no equal in the West for Bethany’s Music and Art Programs. "
In 1901, Swensson received the order of the "Knights of the North Star" from King Oscar II (1829-1907) of Sweden, as a result of his many contributions and promoting Swedish life through the church, the college, and beyond Lindsborg. Sandzén was also knighted by the Swedish Crown in 1940. These two Swedish gentlemen would be two (2) of fourteen (14) such Lindsborg residents of the Bethany College family to be honored in such a way by the Swedish Crown, from the period of time beginning in 1901 to 2014.
Driving those pioneer and post-pioneer years of the Swedish Kansas Smoky Valley Lindsborg and its surrounding Swedish enclaves, however, was the unmovable foundational Christian faith found in their Augustana Lutheran Synod churches: Bethany Lutheran Church, the Salemsborg Lutheran Church, and the Freemount Lutheran Church, all of which were founded in 1869, the year of Lindsborg's founding. However, the Bethany Lutheran Church gave birth, through its former members of the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant Church in 1878, and to the Messiah Lutheran Church, in 1908, the first English speaking church in Lindsborg. There were also two significant non-Lutheran denominations that were established in Lindsborg, most notably, the Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church of 1876 and the Swedish Baptist Church of 1892. All these churches have played major spiritual Christian roles in Lindsborg and continue to do so.
Lindsborg as well as all Swedish American communities in the United States, in 1937 were called to task in establishing a $750,000 endowment for Philadelphia’s American Swedish Historical Museum for the 1938 300th Anniversary of the founding of New Sweden in North America. As these Swedes were addressed then in an instructional brochure as the "Sons and Daughters of a People that Helped Lay the Foundations of the Republic," they too were hard at work to ensure that this great museum's life would go on into perpetuity!
Somewhere in the early 1960's, the Lindsborg of Kansas became known as "Little Sweden, U.S.A." Earlier, it may be that Lindsborg was referred to as "Little Swedish Lindsborg," so described in Swensson's 1897 book, Again in Sweden, in the first chapter, "Off for Sweden," in the second paragraph where Swensson writes: "But as of yet, I am still in, little, Swedish Lindsborg, in faraway Kansas."
" Lindsborg - Where Culture and Agriculture Meet "
- a phrase from The Spur by Howard Lincoln who so aptly described this little Swedish Kansas city - *****
Viewed from Coronado Heights, named for Spanish Explorer Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, thought to have explored this area in 1541
Thus, this is the historical background for Swedes: TheWayTheyWere, aka SWEDES, the information of which I gratefully gathered from the works of the "Smoky Valley Writers," while making periodic visits to the Smoky Valley Historical Association website, www.smokyvalleyhistory.org, the written content of which was composed by Association president, writer and historian, the late Chris Abercrombie (1949-2017), who, in addition, continued making available valuable and countless YouTube presentations concerning Lindsborg, Bethany College and Coronado Heights history.
Although not finished, the 2011 SWEDES was first published on the eve of Lindsborg's 75th Svensk Hyllningsfest on October 8, 2015. This Swedish American online historical narrative consists of many collections composed of my research findings, photographs, images, and texts from, and about, the Swedish American Lindsborg relatives I have come to know well through the estate they left behind. This brought me face-to-face with their Swedishness, with tracing my family back to Sweden and traveling there in 2016 and 2017. Yet, most importantly, this experience introduced me to their Lindsborg and Bethany Swedish friends, to "The Other Swedes," to their contemporaries, and to the events and activities of their time, taking place at the end of the 19th century and moving into the mid twentieth century-- a span of time when the population of Lindsborg grew from 700 in 1881 to 2,383 in 1950.
To begin SWEDES, start under the HOME section entitled, The Bethany Artist & the Bethany Scientist: Lydia & Emil, which briefly profiles the couple and their strong connection to Bethany College, while introducing other Sohlberg Deere family members. Under this section are those subsections that summarize the founding of Lindsborg and the Bethany Lutheran Church with its Augustana Lutheran Synod, and continues to other subsections on the earliest books recording the settlements of the Swedes and expands to the founding of Bethany College which introduces Lydia and Emil and their contemporaries. Showcased, also, is their 1920's Coronado Heights' photograph project; their 1873 Swedish homestead and its 2020 virtual memorial; their Deere Home, the 1961 Thunderbird; and, after Lydia passing with Emil's campaigning work and preparation for the first Lindsborg Hospital. Then follows their annual renown Messiah performances beginning in 1882 with their annual artists' Midwest Art Exhibitions beginning in 1899; their 1902 "Terrible Swedes;" their 1904 St. Louis World's Fair Swedish Pavilion; their Bethany College Anniversary Celebrations of 1896, 1901, 1906 and 1981; and their 1937 introduction to New Sweden.
From the HOME section across, SWEDES grows exponentially -- from detailing the A.G. Sohlberg Swedish immigration experiences to highlighting the Kosta and Stockholm Ulric Sohlberg family's Swedish Kosta Glass collection, the Kosta Portraits, the Nina Sohlberg Swedish Gold Thread Embroidery Sampler; to the Lindsborg and Bethany College endeavors of Lydia's and Emil's lives, from showcasing the activities and events of their times; to visually showcasing favorite Lindsborg and Coronado Heights venues, and the Bethany College Museum, its campus, buildings, and student activities through Lydia's photography; to showcasing their contemporaries, especially Artist Birger Sandzén and his work through Lydia's main section, and College Presidents' Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson and Rev. Dr. Ernst F. Pihlblad, through Emil's main section.
SWEDES finishes, most importantly, with listing Emil's and Lydia's friends, their contemporaries, as well as "others" decades later, to today, under the last section, "The Other Swedes" which attempts to provide "Their Legacy Listings" including their works. This listing is SWEDES' way to honor and remember these individuals, many of whom who may have been forgotten, are in danger of being forgotten or who have never been learned of, by showcasing them and their works online, for posterity and perpetuity.
Through the gift of marvelous technology, SWEDES has been able to memorialize the Bethany College and the Lindsborg and their Swedes of yesterday who were the rock-like infrastructure upon which modern Lindsborg and Bethany College exist. So it is to them along with their Swedish American descendants (my contemporaries) and my great grandaunt Lydia Sohlberg Deere and great granduncle Emil Olof Deere, to whom Swedes: TheWayTheyWere is dedicated, and for whom it is written.
Now, let us remember them!
Begin your journey back to the end of the 19th Century moving into the 20th, to lives lived in this special Kansas Swedish community of "brick" main streets with its special Swedish College when the ties to Sweden and to the Lutheran Church, the Augustana Lutheran Synod, were at their purest and strongest and the mother language was spoken daily everywhere, especially at chiming bell church services and related gatherings, at the Lindsborg bakery tables and in the Swedish clubs where Swedish coffee, made with a raw egg, pancakes and delicacies were being served in true Swedish Lutheran hospitality.
To continue, go HERE to learn of the last-living-links through whom the foundational history of this website could have only begun.
Or to first browse through the Traveling through SWEDES: "The Outline Online" ("Table of Contents"), go HERE.
Njuta av (Enjoy),
Fran Cochran -- February 23, 2023
Bethany College Graduate, 1968
A research writer website designer of 2011 Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
A compiler of historical Swedish American information from Kansas Smoky Valley writers and other sources
A research writer website designer of 2015 SwedishAmericana
A list compiler, with LINKS, for Swedish America of Swedish American institutions, organizations and establishments
Although not finished, the 2011 SWEDES was first published on the eve of Lindsborg's 75th Svensk Hyllningsfest on October 8, 2015. This Swedish American online historical narrative consists of many collections composed of my research findings, photographs, images, and texts from, and about, the Swedish American Lindsborg relatives I have come to know well through the estate they left behind. This brought me face-to-face with their Swedishness, with tracing my family back to Sweden and traveling there in 2016 and 2017. Yet, most importantly, this experience introduced me to their Lindsborg and Bethany Swedish friends, to "The Other Swedes," to their contemporaries, and to the events and activities of their time, taking place at the end of the 19th century and moving into the mid twentieth century-- a span of time when the population of Lindsborg grew from 700 in 1881 to 2,383 in 1950.
To begin SWEDES, start under the HOME section entitled, The Bethany Artist & the Bethany Scientist: Lydia & Emil, which briefly profiles the couple and their strong connection to Bethany College, while introducing other Sohlberg Deere family members. Under this section are those subsections that summarize the founding of Lindsborg and the Bethany Lutheran Church with its Augustana Lutheran Synod, and continues to other subsections on the earliest books recording the settlements of the Swedes and expands to the founding of Bethany College which introduces Lydia and Emil and their contemporaries. Showcased, also, is their 1920's Coronado Heights' photograph project; their 1873 Swedish homestead and its 2020 virtual memorial; their Deere Home, the 1961 Thunderbird; and, after Lydia passing with Emil's campaigning work and preparation for the first Lindsborg Hospital. Then follows their annual renown Messiah performances beginning in 1882 with their annual artists' Midwest Art Exhibitions beginning in 1899; their 1902 "Terrible Swedes;" their 1904 St. Louis World's Fair Swedish Pavilion; their Bethany College Anniversary Celebrations of 1896, 1901, 1906 and 1981; and their 1937 introduction to New Sweden.
From the HOME section across, SWEDES grows exponentially -- from detailing the A.G. Sohlberg Swedish immigration experiences to highlighting the Kosta and Stockholm Ulric Sohlberg family's Swedish Kosta Glass collection, the Kosta Portraits, the Nina Sohlberg Swedish Gold Thread Embroidery Sampler; to the Lindsborg and Bethany College endeavors of Lydia's and Emil's lives, from showcasing the activities and events of their times; to visually showcasing favorite Lindsborg and Coronado Heights venues, and the Bethany College Museum, its campus, buildings, and student activities through Lydia's photography; to showcasing their contemporaries, especially Artist Birger Sandzén and his work through Lydia's main section, and College Presidents' Rev. Dr. Carl Aaron Swensson and Rev. Dr. Ernst F. Pihlblad, through Emil's main section.
SWEDES finishes, most importantly, with listing Emil's and Lydia's friends, their contemporaries, as well as "others" decades later, to today, under the last section, "The Other Swedes" which attempts to provide "Their Legacy Listings" including their works. This listing is SWEDES' way to honor and remember these individuals, many of whom who may have been forgotten, are in danger of being forgotten or who have never been learned of, by showcasing them and their works online, for posterity and perpetuity.
Through the gift of marvelous technology, SWEDES has been able to memorialize the Bethany College and the Lindsborg and their Swedes of yesterday who were the rock-like infrastructure upon which modern Lindsborg and Bethany College exist. So it is to them along with their Swedish American descendants (my contemporaries) and my great grandaunt Lydia Sohlberg Deere and great granduncle Emil Olof Deere, to whom Swedes: TheWayTheyWere is dedicated, and for whom it is written.
Now, let us remember them!
Begin your journey back to the end of the 19th Century moving into the 20th, to lives lived in this special Kansas Swedish community of "brick" main streets with its special Swedish College when the ties to Sweden and to the Lutheran Church, the Augustana Lutheran Synod, were at their purest and strongest and the mother language was spoken daily everywhere, especially at chiming bell church services and related gatherings, at the Lindsborg bakery tables and in the Swedish clubs where Swedish coffee, made with a raw egg, pancakes and delicacies were being served in true Swedish Lutheran hospitality.
To continue, go HERE to learn of the last-living-links through whom the foundational history of this website could have only begun.
Or to first browse through the Traveling through SWEDES: "The Outline Online" ("Table of Contents"), go HERE.
Njuta av (Enjoy),
Fran Cochran -- February 23, 2023
Bethany College Graduate, 1968
A research writer website designer of 2011 Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
A compiler of historical Swedish American information from Kansas Smoky Valley writers and other sources
A research writer website designer of 2015 SwedishAmericana
A list compiler, with LINKS, for Swedish America of Swedish American institutions, organizations and establishments
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
For a glimpse of those yesteryears continue scrolling down.
For a glimpse of those yesteryears continue scrolling down.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
~ Let Us Remember Them ~
* * * * * * *
~ Let Us Remember Them ~
* * * * * * *
" . . . no equal in the West for Bethany’s Music and Art Programs! "
THE "CAN DO" SPIRIT OF A SWENSSON AD FOR HIS DEAR BETHANY
THE "CAN DO" SPIRIT OF A SWENSSON AD FOR HIS DEAR BETHANY
Source: Annual 1895-1896
* * *
CARL AARON SWENSSON
1857 - 1904
(Born near Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania of Swedish parents from Småland, Sweden)
CARL AARON SWENSSON
1857 - 1904
(Born near Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania of Swedish parents from Småland, Sweden)
Founder & Second President of Bethany Lutheran College
Second (2nd) Swedish Pastor of the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany Church
Second (2nd) Swedish Pastor of the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany Church
OLOF OLSSON
1841 - 1900
(Born in Karlskoga, Värmland)
Ordained at Uppsala Cathedral, Uppsula, Sweden, December 15, 1863
Swedish Founder and First Pastor of the
Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany Church
who officially led the first Swedish party from Värmland to settle in Lindsborg, Kansas.
(He would become the third President of the Swedish Evangelical Augustana Lutheran College.)
Swedish Founder and First Pastor of the
Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany Church
who officially led the first Swedish party from Värmland to settle in Lindsborg, Kansas.
(He would become the third President of the Swedish Evangelical Augustana Lutheran College.)
* * *
~ the little Swedish city, its Swedish church and its Swedish college evolved together ~
Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany Church
Founded 1869
(1874 original building, 1880 building expansion)
Then and Now
Founded 1869
(1874 original building, 1880 building expansion)
Then and Now
Alfred Bergin
1866 - 1942
(Born in Västergötland, Sweden)
Third (3rd) Swedish Pastor for the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Bethany Church for 38 Years
First (1st) Swedish Historian of Lindsborg and Smoky Valley
- destined as church leader with members to compile and write about Lindsborg and the Smoky Valley from the very beginning -
- publishing in 1909 & 1919 respectively
" Lindsborg, Bidrag Till Svenskarnas och Den Lutherska Kyrkans Historia i Smoky Hill River Dalen "
&
" Lindsborg Efter Femtio Ӓr "
Source:
In its beginnings, the Bethany Lutheran Church worship services were conducted in Swedish, and then, in time, additional English services were introduced, eventually giving way to all English services. However, before that time in 1908, an all English language Lutheran church was founded due to the initial efforts of Malm Gustav Nathaniel (G.N.) Malm (1869 - 1928). The church, located on the Bethany College campus, was named the Messiah Lutheran Church.
* * *
Messiah Lutheran Church
Founded 1908
Located on the Bethany College Campus
Provided needed English worship services to non-Swede Bethany students and faculty, and Lindsborg residents!
Messiah Lutheran Church
Founded 1908
Located on the Bethany College Campus
Provided needed English worship services to non-Swede Bethany students and faculty, and Lindsborg residents!
Source: 1969, "The Smoky Valley in The After Years" by Ruth Billdt & Elizabeth Jaderborg: PLATE IX, after page 44
* * *
The Other Churches of Lindsborg Then
The Other Churches of Lindsborg Then
* * *
Some of "The Other Swedes" Were These
Supporting Swedish American Presidential Candidate Honorable John A. Johnson Governor of Minnesota
Messiah Easter Week 1908
Photographed by Lydia Sohlberg Deere at Sohlberg House
Some of "The Other Swedes" Were These
Bethany College
"Swedish Knights and Ladies"
Honored by the Kings of Sweden
Below are their pictures arranged as to the years these Swedes received honor from the Swedish Crown for their many Swedish American endeavors.
Rows
1 -- Swensson 1901, Sandzén 1901 and 1940, Udden 1911, Pihlblad 1920, Lincoln 1930
2 -- Olson 1940, Brase 1947, Greenough 1963, A.W. Lindquist 1976, E.K. Lindquist 1976
3 -- Hahn 1976, Ristuben 1990, Sandzén-Greenough 1991, Karstadt 2010
Click on their pictures (found in Deere's Bethany College annuals) to learn of their Swedish honors. Click HERE to learn more.
Rows
1 -- Swensson 1901, Sandzén 1901 and 1940, Udden 1911, Pihlblad 1920, Lincoln 1930
2 -- Olson 1940, Brase 1947, Greenough 1963, A.W. Lindquist 1976, E.K. Lindquist 1976
3 -- Hahn 1976, Ristuben 1990, Sandzén-Greenough 1991, Karstadt 2010
Click on their pictures (found in Deere's Bethany College annuals) to learn of their Swedish honors. Click HERE to learn more.
Some of "The Other Swedes" Were These
The Bethany College "Terrible Swedes"
The Bethany College "Terrible Swedes"
Source: Near page 198 of Emory Lindquists' 1953 Smoky Valley People
- In "their day," this was their Bethany College -
Photography by Lydia Sohlberg Deere
And so it was with my own Swedish American family that 14 family members of 4 generations graduated from Bethany College. George Gustaf Sohlberg was the first to graduate in May of 1884 with Bethany's first graduating class when it was an Academy. I was the last Sohlberg to graduate in May of 1968, the day after which Swensson's wonderful Old Main building was to be torn down.
- May 1884 -
Anton S. Anderson, Otto Hawkinson, John Welin, George G. Sohlberg, Victor Swanson
became
"the first" Bethany Academy Graduates
commencement exercises taking place at Bethany Church
Source: Photo from the Sohlberg Papers, but can also be seen on page 10 of Bethany in Kansas
Then, this was their Bethany College
Bethany's "First Building" of 1882
- The Bethany Academy building was at the very heart of the Bethany College beginnings -
Bethany was chartered by the State of Kansas in September 1882
It was dedicated by Founder Carl Aaron Swensson with Augustana Synod leaders presiding on October 4, 1882
It was adopted as "the child" of the Augustana Synod in 1884 at the Kansas Conference at Mariadahl Lutheran Church
- Today located at the McPherson County Old Mill Museum Heritage Park. -
- The Bethany Academy sign was removed in 2013 and it is identified as 1879 Lindsborg's "First School House" -
- May 21, 1891 -
Eric Glad, J.A. Westerlund, Ernst F. Pihlblad, Julius Lincoln
became
"the first" Bethany College baccalaureate degree graduates
Source: "Bethany in Kansas" page 21
* * *
and
this was, and still is, their
1903 Swedish college cheer
ROCKAR! STOCKAR!
THOR OCH HANS BOCKAR!
KöR IGENOM! KöR IGENOM!
TJU! TJU! TJU!
BETHANIA
* * *
OLD MAIN
1887 - 1968
1887 - 1968
1887 SWEDISH MOTIF
- On OLD MAIN walls behind the 1968 Business Club meeting when I was president -
In today's Lindsborg these Swedish motifs would have been saved and preserved.
Source: 1968 Bethanian
* * *
1976
- THE KING OF SWEDEN IN LINDSBORG -
These pioneer Swedes could have never dreamed (although Bethany College Founder Dr. Rev. Carl Aaron Swensson might have) that the King of Sweden would visit their little Swedish Lindsborg and its college. Yet, in 1976, that is just what happened on April 17th when King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden visited Bethany and Lindsborg.
Source: The Bethany Magazine, Spring Issue 1976, Editor A. John Pearson, Assistant Estred Johnson Schwantes.
Cover photo by JIM TURNER.
V Ӓ R M L A N D S W E D E N
- The region from where Pastor Olsson's group of Evangelical Lutheran Swedes immigrated to Lindsborg -
Source: Sohlberg Post Card
* NOTE THAT ON THESE POST CARDS THE SWEDISH SPELLING OF VӒRMLAND IS " VERMLAND"
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SINCE OCTOBER 31, 1991
THE VӒRMLAND CITY OF "MUNKFORS" AND THE KANSAS CITY OF "LINDSBORG" HAVE BEEN "SWEDISH SISTER CITIES"
(Due to the initial efforts and foresight of Mayor Don Anderson, who held this office from 1989 to 2001)
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SINCE OCTOBER 31, 1991
THE VӒRMLAND CITY OF "MUNKFORS" AND THE KANSAS CITY OF "LINDSBORG" HAVE BEEN "SWEDISH SISTER CITIES"
(Due to the initial efforts and foresight of Mayor Don Anderson, who held this office from 1989 to 2001)
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To find maps on Värmland, Sweden, go HERE
V Ӓ R M L A N D C O S T U M E S
Source: 1894 Algot E. Strand's "Fosterländska Minnen"
Source: picclick.co.uk
1904
Swedish Pavilion Gift from Sweden to Lindsborg's Bethany College
Source: Sohlberg Deere Papers. Postcard by Photographer Bror G. Gröndal
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* Bill Carlson, from his 2010 book, Lindsborg Then and Lindsborg Now, page 63.
* Alf Brorson is an author, journalist and retired teacher from Torsby, Sweden whose column, A Sweden Letter, appears periodically in the Lindsborg News Record.
** Source: Fourth Swedish American Bethany College President Emory Lindquist's 1953 book, Smoky Valley People, page 14, Chapter II, "The Coming of the Swedes."
*** Source: Thomas N. Holmquist's 1994 book, Pioneer Cross, Swedish Settlements Along the Smoky Hill Bluffs, Chapter 3, "The Search for Land."
**** Bill Carlson, from his 2010 book, Lindsborg Then and Lindsborg Now, page 29.
***** Taken from page 164 of Ruth Billdt's 1965 Pioneer Swedish-American Culture in Central Kansas, a translation of the 1909 "LINDSBORG, Bidrag Till Svenskarnas och Den Lutherska Kyrkans Historia i Smoky Hill River Dalen" by her father, Dr. Rev. Alfred Bergin of Bethany Lutheran Church.
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* Bill Carlson, from his 2010 book, Lindsborg Then and Lindsborg Now, page 63.
* Alf Brorson is an author, journalist and retired teacher from Torsby, Sweden whose column, A Sweden Letter, appears periodically in the Lindsborg News Record.
** Source: Fourth Swedish American Bethany College President Emory Lindquist's 1953 book, Smoky Valley People, page 14, Chapter II, "The Coming of the Swedes."
*** Source: Thomas N. Holmquist's 1994 book, Pioneer Cross, Swedish Settlements Along the Smoky Hill Bluffs, Chapter 3, "The Search for Land."
**** Bill Carlson, from his 2010 book, Lindsborg Then and Lindsborg Now, page 29.
***** Taken from page 164 of Ruth Billdt's 1965 Pioneer Swedish-American Culture in Central Kansas, a translation of the 1909 "LINDSBORG, Bidrag Till Svenskarnas och Den Lutherska Kyrkans Historia i Smoky Hill River Dalen" by her father, Dr. Rev. Alfred Bergin of Bethany Lutheran Church.
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* * *
"Let Us Remember Them"
* * * *
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated, or obviously concluded it is not.
Copyright © from October 8, 2015 to 2023 www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
"Let Us Remember Them"
* * * *
Swedes: TheWayTheyWere
~ restoring lost local histories ~
reconnecting past to present
* * *
All color photography throughout Swedes: The Way They Were is by Fran Cochran unless otherwise indicated, or obviously concluded it is not.
Copyright © from October 8, 2015 to 2023 www.swedesthewaytheywere.org. All rights reserved.
