Swedish Immigrant History

Colonial Dames gathered on Saturday, Sept. 12, for a socially-distanced tour at Gammelgården Museum in Scandia, Minn. All members wore masks except while eating lunch. The executive director of Gammelgården, Lynne Moratzka, led our tour around the exteriors of five buildings and showed us historic artifacts, all telling the story of Swedish immigration to America in the 1850s and 1860s. The museum includes the oldest Lutheran sanctuary still standing in Minnesota, built in 1856, which is still in use for summer worship and celebrating Santa Lucia Day in December, as well as weddings and baptisms. We also saw the pastor’s house, built as a parsonage in 1868 to attract a Swedish pastor and his family to come to the immigrant community in Scandia. Other buildings there are a two-level 1879 barn, an immigrant house built in 1855, and a replica of a peasant house called a stuga. Members only: login to see our photo gallery for our visit to Gammelgarden.