Prior to 1867 there were few Swedes in New York. In 1870 they numbered
less than 3,000. The immigrants were chiefly farmers who settled in the
West. In 1883 large numbers began to come from the cities of Sweden and
these settled in the cities of the East. In 1900 the census credited
New York with 29,000 Swedes. In 1910, including the children, there were
57,464, of which 56,766 were Protestants.

The first Swedish Lutheran church was organized in 1865 by Pastor
Andreen who had been sent here for this purpose by the Augustana Synod.
Among the first trustees was Captain John Ericsson, the inventor of
the Monitor. Its first pastor was Axel Waetter, a cultured minister of
the Swedish National Church.

At present there are fourteen Swedish Lutheran churches in New York
reporting a membership of 8,626 souls.

An Immigrant House in Manhattan, a Home for the Aged and an Orphans'
Home in Brooklyn, and Upsala College in Kenilworth, N. J., represent
the institutional work of the Swedish Lutherans.

To Pastor Lauritz Larsen I am indebted for the following sketch of our
Norwegian churches:

"The Norwegians have always been a sea-faring people and a people
looking for fields of labor all over the World. The real immigration
begins about 1849, but there were Scandinavians on Manhattan Island in
the Sixteenth Century. The Bronx is named after a Danish farmer, Jonas
Bronck.

"I believe that the first Norwegian Lutheran Church in New York was