Sunday, September 13, 2009

JENNY LIND CHAPEL - ANDOVER, IL


The Jenny Lind Chapel is a memorial to Swedish settlers who came to America in 1849 to found a branch of the Swedish Lutheran Church under the leadership of Pastor Lars Esbjorn. He later became the first presidnt of Augustana College.
It was a struggle for these pioneers to fund and build this chapel. The congregation grew and in 1870 they built a new church in Andover. The chapel was given its name in 1948 as it was presented to the Augustana Synod. Jenny Lind contributed $1500 towards the construction of he chapel but never visited Andover.
The Jenny Lind Chapel became the mother church for hundreds of other churches of the Augustana Lutheran Church in America. This church merged into the Lutheran Church in America in 1962 and is now a part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Hundreds of settlers died of cholera in the early 1850's and are buried in mass graves in the chapel cemetery.

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