CEDAR COUNTY, NEBRASKA - HISTORY OF PARAGON EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH
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         This history was written and contributed for use in the 
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PARAGON EVALNGELICAL LUTHERAN CHURCH HISTORY

The need for spiritual guidance and a hungering for God's word was strong 
in the hearts of our pioneers.  Time and progress have erased nearly all 
identifying landmarks of the Paragon Community, which was located two miles 
north and five miles east of Hartington, Nebraska--only the cemetery 
remains.  Using the cememtery as a point for directions, the Paragon Church 
was erected a fourth mile south on the east side of the road in 1904.

Considerable emphasis has been placed on the Paragon Community as it is 
here that the Lutherans first settled.  Seemingly, the Albert Erdenberger 
family homesteaded here in 1867, followed by the Bernard Olson family (1869), 
the Martin Bottolfsen family and John Anderson family (1870).  During 1870, 
Bernard Olson and Martin Bottolfsen made the journey through the roadless 
prairie to the Missouri River which they crossed by skiff, and waded through 
six feet high bottom grass and mosquito infested swamps to Gayville, in what 
was called Dakota Territory.  Here they met with Rev. Emil Christensen, the 
first resident Lutheran missionary pastor in the territory.  He arrived in 
the home of Bernard Olsen and held the first service September 14, 1870.  In 
the beginning, services were held once a year, later four times a year on 
Sundays with an occasional weekday service.

The Bow Valley Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Congregation was formally 
organized September 1873 in the Bernard Olsen home.

Webster's Dictionary defines 'paragon' as "a model of excellence or perfection; 
a pattern."

January 12, 1904, members of the Bow Valley Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran 
Church who resided in the Paragon Community met and decided to build their own 
church.  Five hundred and ten dollars was allowed to construct a building thirty-
four feet long, twenty-two feet wide, and twelve feet high, with four windows on 
each side and a window and steeple above the entrance door.

The sharing of ministers with the Bow Valley Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran 
Church, later Trinity Lutheran Church, in Hartington, continued until the closing 
of the country church.

With the automobile changing the mode of transportation and better roads, the 
Paragon Church closed in 1944.  The building was sold for nine hundred dollars to 
the Assembly of God Church in Hartington in 1953.  It was moved to the southwest 
corner of the intersection of Main Street and Lemon Avenue in Hartington.  Later 
it was remodeled into a house.