
On November 19, 1870, a number of forefathers who had been attending the Swedish Lutheran Church in Moline founded the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Church now First Lutheran Church of Rock Island.
The first church was located at 904 8th Avenue. The congregation grew rapidly and in 1887 moved to a new, larger edifice at 14th Street and 4th Avenue. In 1913 an annex was added and the property served well until they moved to their present location 1600 20th Street. On October 25, 1953, the new church was dedicated.
Past Pastors and their time of service:
O. C. T. Andren, 1856-1860
G.Peters, 1861-1863
J. S. Benson, 1866-1873.
A. G. Setterdahl, 1874-1879
H. O. Lindeblad, 1879-1892
Carl A, Hemborg, 1892-1904
L. A. Johnston, 1902-1911
B. O.Morland, 1919-1938
George Engdahl, 1939-1955
Nils E. Bengtson, 1957-1964
Leroy K. Anderson, 1965-1969
Roger Hanson, 1969-1971
Charles Haney, 1972-1976
Kenneth E. Johnson, 1977-1982
Franklin Samuelson, 1983-1996
Article and picture submitted by Lilly Setterdahl
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