The Near North Side never developed a large Scandinavian community, such as the one around the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood, but there were enough Norwegians that by 1874 a small group who had been worshiping at Trinity Church located at Tenth Avenue South and Fourth Street asked to have a church on the North Side. A meeting was held and a decision was made to affiliate this new congregation with the Norwegian-Danish Conference and to accept Mr. Gale’s offer of a site on Twelfth Avenue North and Aldrich. Work began immediately on St. Olaf Norwegian Lutheran Church which was dedicated in June 1874.
Ten years later the church was no longer in use and the congregation was in the process of erecting a new edifice located at Lyndale and 14th Avenue North that was dedicated the following year. During the interim, while the new church was under construction, the congregation rented worship space at Pilgrim Congregational Church located on Lyndale and 14th Avenue North, and at the “Mission House,” a small chapel located at 15th Avenue North and Bryant belonging to the Swedish Tabernacle. Three years later, reflecting how quickly the Near North Side was changing due to several key factors including the arrival of different ethnic/religious groups, expanded public transportation, and the growth of industry and commerce, the congregation decided to literally move its church further north to 16th Avenue North and Dupont. However, as the neighborhood continued its dramatic turnover, it soon became apparent that another move was needed.
As the pastor noted in 1904, the congregation was suffering because many of its members had moved further north beyond the confines of the Near North Side, and in order for the congregation to survive it would need to once again relocate. A lot was purchased on 29th Avenue North and Emerson and a new church edifice was dedicated on September 3, 1911. The congregation, aware that not all of its members chose to move further north, voted to build a small chapel on 8th Avenue North and Newton to service their religious and cultural needs. In 1918 the chapel’s members in what was a contentious vote decided to separate from St. Olaf and form a separate congregation known as the Homewood Lutheran Congregation. In 1930 it merged with Faith Lutheran Church, established by Norwegians in 1918. The new congregation, known as Russell Avenue Lutheran Church, worshipped in Faith’s edifice, dedicated in 1918 and located at 1531 Russell Avenue North, a second-generation North Side neighborhood.