The  first  Norwegian  Church  edifice  was  a  small  log  house  in  the  Town
of  Otsego,  built  in  the  summer  of  1853.  In  June  of  that  year  the  corner-
stone of  the  church  in  the  Town  of  Leeds  was  also  laid.  In  1866  the
Bonnet  Prairie  Congregation  erected  a  meeting  house  of  stone,  and  the
Lodi  Church  erected  a  brick  edifice  in  1871.  At  that  time  there  were
280  families  in  the  various  congregations  connected  with  the  parish.
Early  Churches  in  the  Townships

A  number  of  churches  in  the  different  towns  were  founded  in  the
pioneer  decade  from  1845  to  1854  which  are  worthy  of  comment.
Rev.  Henry  Maynard,  of  Lodi.  preached  the  first  sermon  in  the  Town
of  Arlington — a  good  Methodist  one — at  the  house  of  Clark  M.  Young  in
the  summer  of  1845.  For  several  years  he  visited  the  town  from  time
to  time,  but  no  class  appears  to  have  been  formed.  In  1854  Rev.  T.  Lewis,
also  of  Lodi.  preached  Presbyterian  doctrine  at  the  house  of  A.  P.  Smith.
Shortly  afterward  a  congregation  was  formed  in  Arlington,  but  no  church
building  erected.
In  the  spring  of  1N47  Elder  Wood,  of  Wyocena.  a  Baptist  minister,
preached  the  first  sermon  in  the  Town  of  Otsego,  at  the  home  of  Stephen
James  on  Section  2:].  Two  years  afterward  Reverend  Hanson,  a  Meth-
odist clergyman,  organized  a  class  in  the  sehoolhou.se  in  Section  23.
In  the  spring  of  1849,  the  Calvanistic  Methodists  erected  the  first
church  building  in  the  Town  of  Springvale,  on  Section  12.
In  the  same  year  the  Protestant  Methodists  organized  the  pioneer
religious  church  of  the  Town  of  Marcellon  at  the  postoffiee  by  that  name.
