Years Of Growth

The 1920’s were filled with hope and growth. In 1922 there were nearly 600 baptized members, 402 confirmed and 195 unconfirmed youngsters in Sunday School. Violin teacher Holger Jensen

organized a 14-member Sunday School orchestra, which accompanied the youthful hymn singers each week. Monthly, the orchestra offered special music for the entire congregation. 

The '20s also saw the founding of a number of church organizations, including the Sunshine Club in September 1923, and the Sewing Circle, later called the Women's Guild, in May 1925.

The Rev. James C. Peterson became pastor of St. Mary's Lutheran Church in 1931. He had been a chaplain with the American Expeditionary Force in France during World War I. He brought with him the ability to personalize Christianity, particularly to St Mary's younger members.

While he brought a strong sense of organization to the church, he also was surprisingly forgetful for an organized man. Legend has it that once, while on vacation, Peterson drove away from a gas station, not realizing at first that he had accidentally left his wife behind. During Peterson's 11 years - he left St. Mary's in 1942 -growth continued. In 1938, church membership stood at about 800.

America was in the midst of World War II when the Rev. Marius Dixen answered the congregation's call. He had been executive secretary for the Lutheran Santal Mission of Northern Churches in India before the war interrupted his work. Having lost all contacts with the Indian missions because of the war, he became a five-year-interim pastor at St.Mary’s parishioners have maintained to this day.

When Pastor Dixen returned to the Santal Mission in 1947, his successor was the Rev. Paul G. Rasmussen, who had served as a military chaplain during WWII.  Members particularly appreciated Pastor Rasmussen as an inspiring preacher.

In 1952, the Rev. Lawrence Siersbeck accepted St. Mary's call. Under the leadership of Siers, as so many called him in friendship, the church grew faster than ever, not only in membership, but also spiritually.

Like many of the early pastors, Siersbeck had been born in Denmark, but came to the United States as a child. In 1938, he was elected president of Dana College in Blair, Nebraska. At 36, he was the youngest president of a Lutheran college in the nation. In 1959, for his work on a merger committee that, ultimately, would lead to the formation of the American Lutheran Church, he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Dana, the first such degree bestowed by the school. He also received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from Carthage College in 1964.

Two years after Siersbeck began his pastorate, church membership was pushing 1,100. The Sunday School enrollment was 369, with 58 more confirmation students. Another neighborhood residence had been purchased to increase space, but, of course, that was only a stopgap measure. A new building on a larger tract of land seemed essential, and the city's development pattern suggested a site further south.