Swedish Baptist Church

When the First Scandinavian Church was founded in Fargo in 1883, it held services in Norwegian. This upset the Swedes who withdrew from the church in 1891 and formed their own church: the Swedish Baptist Church. The church was organized on August 1, 1891, with A.J. Solestrom and his wife, Nels Johnson and wife, Mrs. Anderson and two children, Charles Wiklund and wife, Lars Loren, Annie Nelson, and C.A. Hedlund as members.

The first meetings were held in an old building formerly used as a saloon. O.M. Lindh came to the society in 1892 as a pastor and through his efforts, a church costing $3500 was built. The pews had just been installed and the church just ready for occupancy when the great fire of 1893 burned the church to the ground.

The 1893 Fargo City Directory lists the the church as located on the northwest corner of 4th Street North and 3rd Avenue. It states the church was organized in 1891 and had a membership of 60 in 1893 with O.N. Lind as pastor.

A new church was built at a cost of $5000. They built their church (pictured in the postcard right) on the northwest corner of Third Avenue and Fourth Street North.

After the Swedes left the First Scandinavian Church, the Norwegians formed the Norwegian Baptist Church. The two churches rejoined in 1925 by which time both were holding services in English.