Jenny Lind Chapel, Andover, Ill., ca. 1975. Financed in part by a donation from singer Jenny Lind, the building pictured above was dedicated in 1854. The oldest surviving Swedish Lutheran church building in Illinois, the Jenny Lind Chapel was home to the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Congregation in Andover, organized in 1850 and now known as the Augustana Lutheran Church. A new facility was constructed in 1867-1870. The Jenny Lind Chapel has been placed on the National Register of Historic Sites.	Sharon (Saron) Lutheran Church, Sharon Springs, Kans., ca. 1900. Founded in 1888, as a member of the Augustana Synod, this congregation constructed its first building in 1900. Karmel (Carmel) Lutheran Church, Kimball, Neb., ca. 1890. Established in 1887, this Augustana Synod congregation dissolved around 1927. Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Town of Clinton, Rock Co., Wis., ca. 1900. The Clinton congregation, known as the "West Church" (Norwegian Augustana) congregation, was organized in 1848 by the more Haugean residents of Jefferson Prairie who did not wish to join the Jefferson Prairie Norwegian Synod congregation, organized in 1844. The 1858 building pictured above replaced an 1846 log meeting house. In 1890 the Clinton congregation merged with the Jefferson Prairie Norwegian Synod congregation and the Jefferson Prairie Norwegian-Danish Conference Congregation to form the Jefferson Prairie Evangelical Lutheran Church, a member of the United Norwegian Lutheran Church. The "West Church" and the Norwegian Synod congregation’s "East Church" were both used until a new facility was built in 1903. Marion Hill Lutheran Church, White City, Kans., ca. 1890. Organized in 1876 as a member of the Augustana Synod, the congregation completed its building in 1881 with stone quarried from land a mile north of the church.
In the Midwest early rural congregations, usually comprised of recent immigrants, often constructed simple, practical structures as their first buildings. Depending upon the materials available, these church buildings were at times frame, sod, or stone structures. In some cases the original structure was used for many years. In other cases the building was replaced within a generation.
Ware's Grove Lutheran Church, 3.5 miles northeast of Butler, Ill., ca. 1880s. Ware’s Grove, established in 1860, was a member of the General Synod and later the United Lutheran Church in America. The building pictured above was constructed around 1862. Current membership is 148.

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