The oldest Lutheran church in the West was founded when Rev. Uno Cygnaeus arrived in Sitka in May of 1840, having been sent by the Church of Finland to establish the first non-orthodox church in Russian America. Aided in this endeavor by the Governor, who was also a Finnish Lutheran, he and the others soon had a flourishing church with approximately 150 members, most of whom were Finnish craftsmen, clerks and shipwrights. The first pipe organ on the west coast, shipped around the horn in 1846 for Sitka Lutheran Church, is still on display in the present church. In October of 1867 Alaska was formally transferred to the United States. The departure of the Russian Company left Sitka Lutheran with few members. The building was dismantled and the furnishings placed in storage. For 50 years the plot of land “given to the Lutheran Congregation in perpetuity” had no building. Then, in 1940, the ULC came and refounded the Sitka Church, placing an attractive building on the site. During the War the lower level was used as a center for military people, and was later used as a fisherman’s center. The joy of mortgage burning in October of 1965 was short-lived. On January 2, 1966 fire destroyed the church and much of downtown Sitka. The new building was dedicated in 1967 and is now being refurbished, including displays from the 1840 and 1940 churches. The congregation will celebrate 150 years of Lutheranism in Alaska and the West coast in 1990.
From the guide to the Sitka Lutheran Church Records, 1840-2012, (Pacific Lutheran University)
