The Salem Swedish Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1883. This area, including portions of Kearney, Phelps, and Harlan counties, once had the largest number of Swedish immigrants in rural Nebraska. The original sod church was built in…

Three German Lutheran congregations, Zion, Salem, and Emmanuel, built churches in Stillwater Precinct, Webster County, Nebraska. Emmanuel was the last to build and the last to disband. Emmanuel Lutheran Church was formally dedicated on this site,…

The St. Falconieri Catholic Church was built in 1883 of brick fired at Red Cloud. It served Red Cloud's Catholic congregation until 1906 when it was sold and converted into a private residence. Here, Annie Pavelka, the Antonia of Cather's…

Built in 1884 on the corner of Second and Walnut, the Grace Protestant Episcopal Church was moved to its present location in 1891. The brick veneer was added sometime after 1922. Willa Cather joined this church in 1922 and remained a loyal member…

Religious institutions have played an important role in the history of Nebraska. During the frontier period, churches fulfilled both the spiritual and social needs of the early inhabitants. The Congregational Church was one of Nebraska's…

Three years after the town of Arcadia was platted in October 1885, the First Congregational Church was organized on November 25, 1888, the second church in town. Articles of incorporation were recorded on December 2, 1889, and the building, costing…

St. Mary's Catholic Church was built in 1900 by Polish immigrants near Elyria. They came to Valley County in the early 1880s and attended services in Boleszyn, a Polish church ten miles away. When this church was destroyed by a tornado a…