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First Covenant Church, Minneapolis, is a historic church that pre-dated even its own denomination: The Evangelical Covenant Church. Originating in the late 1800’s as part of an immigrant movement of Swedish people to Minneapolis, this congregation was comprised of most day laborers living in a Minnesota with a transplanted Scandinavian culture. As with many immigrant groups coming to America in the late 1800’s there was a deep sense of destabilization combined with optimism in the rapidly growing city of Minneapolis.

The first phase of building the church on this corner was considered massive in its day. But, with the leadership of an internationally recognized preacher named “E.A. Skogsbergh” the building was continually filled to the brim. On November 5, 1903, shortly after baseball’s first World Series and exactly six weeks before the Wright brothers made their unprecedented airplane flight the First Covenant Church sanctuary was the first performance space for the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, which was renamed the Minnesota Orchestra in 1968. First Covenant Minneapolis was also integral in birthing the Swedish Hospital, Minnehaha Academy, the Denomination’s Seminary (‘Northpark Seminary’ that eventually moved to Chicago) and approximately 10 other churches.