Finnish Apostolic Lutheran Church, Gackle, North Dakota

Finnish Apostolic Lutheran Church south of Gackle, ND

A couple of years ago I was on a trip in Dakotas. One of the places I visited was Gackle in Logan county, North Dakota. South of Gackle there has been a large area homesteaded mainly by Finns. There is still standing one church which has Finnish background: Old Apostolic Lutheran Church. It's located in 6300 Highway 56, ten miles south of Gackle. There was also another Finnish church in the area, seven miles south of the city: Finnish Apostolic Lutheran Church. The later had also a cemetery called the Saari Cemetery. The name was given after William Saari by whom the land was gifted  for the cemetery and church. This church was destroyed by lightning in spring 1984 and has been demolished. There is only memorial stone standing at church site. I stopped at the memorial and cemetery and took some pictures and wrote also a short history of this little church:

The memorial stone of the Finnish Apostolic Lutheran church at the Saari Cemetery, south of Gackle

At the home of Andrew Erickson met on July 28, 1907, a group of Finnish immigrants. Their purpose was to organize a church. They discussed also how to raise funds to build a church building. Board of trustees was elected with following members: John Isaacs, Matt Tomperi, August Elgland, Matt Lahti, John K. Saari and Andrew Erickson. First officers were: Walter Isaacs, president, Isaac W. Selvala secretary and Thomas Poykko, treasurer. The the church joined 15 families, namely: Thomas Poykko, Andrew Erickson, Jacob Mackey, John K. Saari, Christian Koskiniemi, Christian Isaacs, Walter Isaacs, John Isaacs, Matt Tomperi, August Elgland, John Rosendahl, Isaac W. Selvala, Matt Lahti and Jacob Pakkala families.

Walter Isaacs (kuoppa-Valtteri), local pastor, standing with his wife in front of their home.

In February 1908, it was decided to build a church before the farmers should go to their fields. The land for church was given by William Saari. Pastors of this church have been Christian Isaacs, Isaac Selvala and Walter Isaacs. Walter Isaacs moved to Minnesota in 1930 and after that the congregation didn't have a local pastor. Pastors from South Dakota and Minnesota held occasionally services in the church. In spring 1984 a heavy lightning struck the church and it was badly destroyed. After this accident the church was demolished.

The Saari Cemetery is located east of the church site. Here you can find all interments at the cemetery

Pictures taken in spring 1984, after lighting had destroyed church building