Where We've Been
1863-Present Day
Our Beginnings
Salem Ev. Lutheran Church was founded on Christmas Day, 1847. Services were conducted in a log Church Building which was located just South of our current campus.
The Lord blessed these early Church members through quick growth that required a larger structure for worship. In 1863, what is know known as the Landmark Church was dedicated and began serving the Souls at Salem. When the Church was built, the intention of beginning a Christian Day School was included in the design. The basement of the Church, which did not have electricity or running water, was outfitted as a classroom. With continued growth in both the Congregation and the School, the basement was completely rebuilt to include restrooms and a kitchen in 1947. In 1949, the congregation added 2 new classrooms to the South Side of the Church Structure.
The "Maple Tree" School and Expansion
The Lord continued to bless the efforts of Salem to provide Christian Education, and once again, the school ran out of space. Since the amount of land owned by Salem at the time was not large enough to expand on, there was another option, work to purchase the Maple Tree School, located just North of the Landmark Church. In 1955, Salem purchased the Maple Tree School building, along with 7 acres of land, adding an additional 4 classrooms to the campus. Even with these additional classrooms, it didn't take long until Salem School was once again out of space to serve the ever growing desire for children to receive a Christian Education.
In 1968, the family of believers at Salem added 2 additional classrooms, a Gymnasium with locker rooms and kitchen, as well as the gym foyer and courtyard.
Once Again...More Space Would be Needed
To say that the Lord was blessing the Ministry at Salem would be a gross understatement. By the mid 1970's, Salem would have over 1200 baptized souls in its family. In order to worship and educate that many people, Phase 3 of the Expansion, which was dedicated in 1977, added a New Sanctuary (which was updated in 2015), Hearth Room, 3 Lower Level Classrooms, Multi-purpose space (which was later converted to an additional classroom), Library and Restrooms.
With the 1977 addition, our Church and School Campus served the needs of our members. The Lord has blessed our School the past several years through the Choice Schools program, emphasizing the need and desire for high quality, Christian Education. This blessing, however, means that we are once again out of space and need to expand. Please refer to the Our Project page of this website for further details on our Expansion.
It's Time to RISE!
