Faith Lutheran Church (Hamilton, Mont.)

This congregation held its first worship service on July 16, 1950 with 45 persons attending. The first permanent home of the congregation was a small brick building at the corner of North 2nd and River Street. It was rented from the Seventh Day Adventist Church and later purchased for $3,500. Student interns served the congregation until 1952 when Rev. Emil Stolte, a 1952 graduate of Wartburg Seminary, was installed as the first ordained pastor. During his pastorate a loan was obtained from the Board of Home Missions and an addition was built to the original brick structure. This was followed by a fellowship room and other basement facilities completed in 1954. In 1957 a house was purchased for a parsonage.

In 1967 the congregation sold the parsonage and gave the pastor a housing allowance. In 1974 a two-acre tract of land was purchased at the corner of Lewis and Winkler Lanes, and because of the increasing growth of the congregation a new church was started in June of 1982. This was ready for occupancy by June 5, 1983. The former church on North 2nd was sold.

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