Renovation Completed | News, Sports, Jobs

From left: David Walrod, chairman of the real estate committee; Karen Linn, vice chairman of the church council; The Rev. Mark E. Swanson; with members of the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation; Elizabeth Jones, community impact officer; and Julia Niles, grants manager. Photo provided

One of Jamestown’s oldest churches has undergone a structural facelift and is ready to celebrate the occasion with the community.

First Lutheran Church, 120 Chandler St., recently completed renovations and repairs to its Chancel Restoration Project, thanks to a grant the church received from the Chautauqua Regional Community Foundation. The church will celebrate the final improvements to its sanctuary Sunday during a combined worship service at 10 a.m. in the nave.

According to Pastor Mark Swanson, pastor of First Lutheran Church, contractor Michael Hutley, owner of Chautauqua Flooring Company, replaced the old, worn carpet with beautiful new red oak flooring, he said. It was a very slow, tedious process because all the steps leading up to the main altar were rounded. It took craftsmanship to complete the process of installing a perfectly smooth floor in the sanctuary area. It took two months. New electrical work was also done in the sanctuary, as well as some repairs-painting in the nave of the church.

“Our congregation would like to express its gratitude to the Chautauqua Region Community Foundation for the generous grant that made this work possible, as well as to the generous donors from both the church and the community. This project enhances the worship space and greatly improves the acoustics of this magnificent building. This is especially important since First Lutheran is the parent church of the Lutheran churches in the Jamestown area,” Swanson said.

First Lutheran is part of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America denomination. First Lutheran has a long and rich history in Jamestown. In the mid-1800s, a large migration of Swedish immigrants settled in the Jamestown area. First Lutheran Church became the first Swedish church in the area and was organized in 1856. The first church was a white, wood-frame church on the same site where the current church building stands. The church had a capacity of 200. Under the leadership of Pastor C. O. E. Hultgren, the small congregation grew to several hundred members. Pastor Hultgren served the congregation for 32 years, from 1862 to 1894,” said Brian Bogey, church organist.

“It was during the tenure of Pastor Dr. Julius Lincoln that our current First Lutheran Church complex was completed. Dr. Lincoln was pastor from 1896 to 1919. It was not until the 1890s that the congregation began construction of the current First Lutheran Church building, with the first stone being laid on August 3, 1892, and the cornerstone being laid by Bishop Von Scheele of Visby, Sweden, on July 13, 1893,” said Bogey. “However, the 1,000-seat church building was not completed until 1901. The first major remodeling of the church nave occurred in 1916, when the entire nave was rebuilt. Gas lighting was installed, and the large round stained glass window above the altar was removed and the high altar was raised to its current height. The high altar was previously located on the ground floor, which prevented many parishioners from seeing it, especially from the balcony and side pews on the first floor. That is why they raised the main altar four feet higher, and five steps lead to the altar where it stands today.

The next major remodeling of the church nave took place when the church celebrated its centennial in 1956. Under the leadership of Pastor Dr. Paul A. Westerberg, pastor from 1950 to 1976, the congregation undertook renovations to the church nave, rebuilding the church organ, and constructing a new educational building and memorial chapel.

In addition, First Lutheran is also home to the decades-old Jamestown High School A Cappella Choir, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary in December with two Vespers services. The First Lutheran congregation wanted to complete the renovation to help celebrate the choir’s 100th anniversary.

The church plans to hold its first Vespers on Sunday, December 8, at 4:00 p.m. The second Vespers will be the Vespers of the A Cappella Choir Graduates, on December 14, at 4:00 p.m. Church officials expect 300 A Cappella Choir graduates to join the current A Cappella Choir under the direction of Lauren Scharf. Bogey, retired director of the A Cappella Choir at JHS, and Norman D. Lydell will also conduct the current A Cappella Choir and the Alumni Choir in traditional carols and choral selections from George F. Handel’s Messiah.