Church and Neighborhood

Church and Neighborhood. An Authentic Settlers' Community Celebrating Rural America. , 1. One of the first endeavors the pioneers desired to do when settling was to organize their churches. Vang Lutheran Church was chartered on October 7, 1894; and in 1906, the congregation constructed their “late Gothic Revival style” building for the cost of $2,155. At first, worship services were conducted in the Norwegian language. Then in 1918, the congregation voted to begin offering periodic services in the English language. The number of English language services increased year-by-year until the mid-1940s when Norwegian language services were no longer held. In 2001, Vang Lutheran Church was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. , 2. Located south of Vang Lutheran Church was Aasand's Hardware Store. When this store installed a Delco battery-operated plant to electrify its business in the 1920s, an electrical wire was strung from the store to the church, enabling it to also have electric lights. , Other owners of this store were Ben Sorenson and Paul B. Rognlie in partnership, and Jacob Klev. This building also served as a garage for Rudolph Peterson until it burned. A box car was later set on this site as a home for the Mike and Anna Jenny family. , 3. Pastors residing in the Parsonage, built in 1903, were Pastor E.S. and Carolyn Eidesvik followed by Pastor J.M. and Anna Langseth. Beginning in 1943, the Parsonage was used as rental property. , 4. The house located west of the Parsonage was built by Helge and Bertha Myhre. Later residents of this house were Sofus and Rena Ongstad, Nels Jorstad, Ole Braaten, Oscar and Margit Braaten, Albert and Rose Nelson, Kermit and Lillian Melby, and Curtis Melby. The house later burned down.