THE NORWEGIAN EMIGRATION MEMORIAL CHURCH
(The Oak Ridge Church)

The Oak Ridge Lutheran Church was built by the Norwegian Ole Haraldsen in 1896 on a ridge outside Houston, Minnesota, about 20 miles west of the Mississippi River and some 15 miles north of the Iowa state line. The original congregation consisted of eight families. The church was in use from 1896 to 1967, and during its heyday in the 1920's, had some 75 members. The congregation was dissolved in 1967 but the graveyard is still maintained.

The church is about 25 ft. broad, 50 ft long and the steeple is about 60 ft. high. There are several details which make it most interesting to the emigrant museum. The lead-glass windows in the choir are still intact, and the alter ring, altar, pulpit and the windows are from older church, build at Highland Prairie, Minnesota, in 1865.

The church stood unused from 1967 until 1994, when it was turned over to this museum for dismantling and shipping to Norway. This part of the project was completed in 1995 and the church arrived at the museum in March 1996. Due to economic constraints, we could not begin the rebuilding of the church until 1999. In that year, we poured the church foundation; and in 2000, we began reconstruction. That process was finished in July, 2002; and on 11. August, the Oak Ridge Church was rededicated as the Norwegian Emigration Memorial Church by the acting bishop of Hamar, Ole Elias Holck. Today, the church holds several babtisms and wedding ceremonies a year.