[First Lutheran Church - Rockford, Illinois ]


First Lutheran Church - Rockford, Illinois


First Lutheran was organized in 1854 as a result of rapidly spreading Swedish immigration which soon made Rockford one of the largest Swedish centers in America. It became the mother and grandmother of at least seven other LCA parishes in Rockford. The building, erected in 1869 was one of the first substantial Lutheran structures in Illinois, bearing a marked resemblance to First Lutheran Church in Moline, old Immanuel Lutheran Church in Chicago, and Augustana Lutheran Church in Andover, Illinois. They were all built about the same time.

Erwin Weber

May, 1997