Filed Under Kalispell

Bethlehem Lutheran Church

Courthouse Historic District

Norwegian-American Lutherans settling in the Flathead Valley in the late 1880s organized the area’s first Lutheran congregation in 1895. Organizational meetings were held in Christian and Mathilde Presbye’s home, and the first church was constructed on Kalispell’s west side. Church leaders changed its name from Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran to Bethlehem Lutheran in 1918, and by 1919 some services were conducted in English. Fundraising efforts to build a new church closer to downtown Kalispell continued throughout the 1920s. Poor local economic conditions and then the Great Depression slowed progress, but ultimately church members raised more than $15,000. Construction began in 1932 and continued while services were held in the new church’s basement auditorium. Architect Fred Brinkman—who designed the church and the funeral home across Sixth Street—specified a restrained Gothic style. Distinctive features include the offset tower, multiple hues of light brown brick, pointed arch windows with Gothic tracery, and white molded concrete trim. Inside the nave, massive, exposed roof beams with carved center and end brackets recall medieval construction methods. In 1937, the Reverend Lawrence Field dedicated the church to its youth.

Images

Bethlehem Lutheran Church
Bethlehem Lutheran Church Facade Source: Photo courtesy of Bethlehem Lutheran Church Facebook page
http://bethluth.org/

Location

603 South Main Street, Kalispell, MT | public

Metadata

Montana Historical Society, “Bethlehem Lutheran Church,” Historic Montana, accessed March 29, 2024, https://historicmt.org/items/show/3395.