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In the midst of the tumult of the Civil War, the first
Swedish church in the State was organized at Mariadahl.
Prior to this time the settlers had gathered occasionally
in some home for a religious service, at which the head
of the house usually read a sermon. In the fall of 1863
Rev. John Johnson, the pastor of the Swedish Lutheran
Church at Princeton, Illinois, visited Kansas at the
request of Rev. T. N. Hasselquist of Galesburg. Failing
to find any Swede at Leavenworth, although he had been
told that some were there, he went directly to Mariadahl.
On Sunday, October 11, he conducted a service in the
home of John A. Johnson, which was crowded with
Swedish settlers, some of whom had not heard a Swedish
service for six years. On Monday he gathered seven
young men and began to instruct them for confirmation.
This he continued on Tuesday, and on Wednesday,
October 14 he gathered the people in the home of
N. P. Johnson and organized the Mariadahl Swedish
Lutheran Church with an original membership of
thirty-five. On Thursday he again taught his confirmation
class, and on Friday visited all the Swedes in the
community. He concluded his instruction of the class on
Saturday, and on Sunday sixty or seventy people
gathered for an unforgettable service, which included the
confirmation of this group of young men.[1] As early
as 1860, a thirty-five acre tract of land had been
acquired for a church and parsonage, and in 1866 the
first Swedish church in the State was erected.
What is now the greatest Swedish community in
Kansas was first visited by an eccentric character by the
name of A. B. Carlgren. He had come to America in
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