Bethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church, St. Paul

Coming together initially to build a school in 1886, this German Lutheran congregation organized on April 11, 1887, as a church, a daughter church of Zion Evangelical Lutheran (Sycamore and Courtland Sts). The congregation built a frame church at 661 Forest Street in 1888 and rebuilt the building in brick in 1915. Services were held in German exclusively until 1903 when some English services were included. In 1937 German services were eliminated.  The congregation erected a new church at 655 Forest Street, designed by noted architect Emmanuel Masqueray, which was completed in 1915, the same year Masqueray's two other main Twin Cities projects, the Cathedral of St. Paul and St. Mary's Basilica in Minneapolis were completed.