Axtell in Kearney County, Nebraska — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)
Salem Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 12, 2025
1. Salem Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church Marker
The Salem Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1883. This area, including portions of Kearney, Phelps, and Harlan counties, once had the largest number of Swedish immigrants in rural Nebraska.
The original sod church was built in 1884. The present 1898 building shows the transition from Sweden to America both through its architecture and through the congregations choice of denomination. The Carpenter Gothic building has an Akron-style floor plan. In addition to the sanctuary, it has a church parlor for social events and Sunday School classes.
The Salem congregation felt the Lutheran Augustana Synod was too much like the state church in Sweden, so they chose to organize as Methodists instead. Some founding members began as members of Bethany Lutheran Church, located southeast of Axtell, and of Fridhem Lutheran Church, originally located east of Funk. Rather than sharing a pastor, the congregation wanted their own minister. Their first pastor was Carl Charnquist, a Swedish Methodist circuit-riding minister recruited from Texas. The Salem Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church complex was listed in the National Register
this page online
Erected 2021 by Salem Church Preservation Society, Inc. and History Nebraska. (Marker Number 574.)
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Immigration • Religion & Religious Structures • Settlements & Settlers. In addition, it is included in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), and the Nebraska State Historical Society series lists. A significant historical year for this entry is 1883.
Location. 40° 27.205′ N, 99° 10.758′ W. Marker is in Axtell, Nebraska, in Kearney County. It is on 20 Road 1.2 miles south of U.S. 6/34, on the left when traveling south. The marker is located directly in front of the subject property. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 810 20 Road, Axtell NE 68924, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Eastern Nebraska. It is also in the American Midwest, in the Corn Belt, and on the prairies. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the Louisiana
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 12, 2025
2. Salem Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church Marker
Looking east from 20 Road.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within 16 miles of this marker, measured as the crow flies: Axtell, Nebraska (approx. 3.2 miles away); Funk, Nebraska (approx. 3.8 miles away); First Site of Bethel Lutheran Church and Cemetery (approx. 6.6 miles away); Phelps County (approx. 10.1 miles away); Holdrege Silt Loam - The Nebraska State Soil (approx. 10.6 miles away); The Great Platte River Road (approx. 14.6 miles away); Dobytown (approx. 14.8 miles away); Fort Kearny (approx. 15.9 miles away).
Regarding Salem Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church. National Register of Historic Places № 82003192.
From the National Register Nomination prepared by James D. Fagler, 2/1981:
In 1898, the existing Salem Methodist Episcopal Church was built, replacing an outgrown 1884 frame structure. A late Carpenter Gothic structure, Salem Methodist Episcopal Church is arranged in an ell-shaped, modified Akron plan. The exterior of the church is sided in white clapboard and trimmed in dark green. The high-pitched gable roofs are adorned by a small bargeboard piece placed at the peak of the gable. The gable walls each holda tri-part wood bar-tracery window. Gothic pointed-arch windows pierce the remaining walls.Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 12, 20253. Salem Church National Register of Historic PlacesThe NRHP marker is mounted at eye-level on the right side of the front entrance.Salem Church
Erected 1898
is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
by the United States Department of the Interior
By securing subscriptions of neighborhood farmers, the church was built nearly debt free, owing only $217 of the $3,300 value by dedication day, July 31st, 1898. The District Superintendent, Rev. A. J. Lofgren wrote in the 1898 Conference Minutes that the "church is a landmark and an honor to the community and all they who contributed to its building."
Nebraska was dominated early in its history by ethnic immigration groups moving into the area. Salem Methodist Episcopal Church complex represents their Victorian influences expressed in vernacular architectural form. The Gothic motif is characterized by the high-spired tower with original weathervane, the stained-glass lancet windows and overall vertical emphasis of roof pitch, tower and windows. The church has been for the most part restored to its 1898 condition, retaining original pews, altar rail, pulpit and 1914 pressed tin walls and ceiling covering.
Also see . . . Salem Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church (Wikipedia).
Excerpt: Salem Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church (also(Submitted on November 5, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.)known as John Fletcher Christian College Chapel) is a Methodist church complex in Kearney County, Nebraska, southwest of Axtell, Nebraska.Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 12, 20254. Salem Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church
The church has served Methodism since its inception, though it has been run by different Methodist denominations throughout its existence. In 1972, the United Methodist Church sold it to the Evangelical Wesleyan Church. The campus of the John Fletcher Christian College and Academy, which was founded in 1968, was moved to this location. John Fletcher Christian College trained ministers to serve in the Evangelical Wesleyan Church, a Methodist denomination aligned with the conservative holiness movement; it had an emphasis on the historic liturgy promulgated by John Wesley in The Sunday Service of the Methodists. The seminary functioned until 1995.
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 12, 2025
5. Salem Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church
(northwest elevation)
(northwest elevation)
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 12, 2025
6. Salem Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church
(south elevation)
(south elevation)
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, September 12, 2025
7. Salem Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church (southwest elevation)
From the National Register Nomination: The entrance/vestibule tower contains circular windows on the south and west walls. The louvered belfry is secured by engaged spired tourelles at the four corners. The decorative woodwork continues the quatrefoil theme found also in the gable bargeboard and circular window tracery. The steeple reaches an apex of 73 feet and is capped by the original weathervane.
Credits. This page was last revised on November 5, 2025. It was originally submitted on November 3, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 100 times since then and 51 times this year. Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. submitted on November 5, 2025, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
