Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2026 All Rights Reserved USGenNet Data Repository Please read USGenNet Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the USGenNet Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ =========================================================================== USGenNet Data Repository Notice: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ============================================================================= Formatted by USGenNet Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. ============================================================================= The Muskegon Chronicle Saturday, 21 April, 1900 Pioneer Days In Muskegon "There are older Norwegian settlers here than I," said MRS. JOHANNA HOPPERSTEAD, 122 Monroe avenue. "The first year I came I didn't know much about them. I came here in '65 from Chicago, but I was originally from Norway. We hadn't any church here then. We got a minister from Chi- cago. His name was NESSE and he preached both here and in Whitehall. He held his services here in the Ole Skodal hall which stood on Ottawa street two doors above where MRS. LARSON'S house now is. There is a brick building in place of the hall now. Although a Lutheran, he was not of the same branch that our people were but still they went to hear him. It was while he was here that the church was started. When it was dedicated there was another preacher here from Chicago, REV. MR. KRON, from the Wisconsin sy- nod. NISSE was from the Augustina synod and they liked KRON better so they dedicated the church under the Wis- consin synod and NISSE left. I was not a member of the church then, not joining until later. "We had no minister then for a time, only different ones which came once in a while. KRON was here three or four times and others would come from Chicago and across the lake. "Our first permanent minister was JOHN BERG, in '68 or '69. He had just been ordained at St. Louis, in the Missouri synod. We then had a man named FLOURN after which REV. ABEL ANDERSON came to stay with us. My hus- band and I after we joined entertained them all when they first came. BERG was with us for six months. FLOURN for a while and ANDERSON for quite a time. "REV. O. C. BAKER was then our minister for a few years; following him was REV. C. SKYBERG; and then came REV. J. OLSEN who is here now. "I think OLE OLSON was the original one to go ahead with getting a new church and MR. LARSON helped. The church first stood on Hall street on a high sand hill. The railroad came through later and they had to make a cut there, so the church was moved to its present location, corner of Yuba and Giddings streets. "There were not so many houses when I first came here. We lived first in the house in which JOHN ANDERSON now lives, on Webster avenue. Then we built the house where GEORGE L. ERWIN now lives. That was before the old brick Central school building was built and they were using the one since moved on 'Mason's forty' for the L. G. MASON residence. In place of C. T. HILL'S house was the one occupied by GEORGE ARMS and CAPTAIN JOHN H. LEWIS' father lived where HUGH RODGERS now resides. "Then we moved to Lakeside and after that built this house on Monroe avenue. MR. HOPPERSTEAD was a foreman most of the time. He was foreman 10 or 12 years for Roberts & Hull and for Stimson four years. He worked for Roberts & Hull about 18 years in all. We moved here with R. P. EASTON from Chicago." ===============================================================================