Avenues Historic District

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387 - 389 1st Avenue - 1907 - 1911 in Copenhagen and in 1897 worked at the Holy Ghost Church in that city. In 1899 he became a pastor and professor of seminary at Blair, Nebraska. He published a paper there called The Dane. From 1903 to 1906 he returned to Denmark to work for the Christian Daily and then came to Utah. Jensen built a one-and-one-half-story residence in 1907 at 61 E Street prior to the building of this church. It is connected to the rear or north end of the church and is still maintained as a separate residence. Jensen organized a congregation in 1906 at the meeting held at the Norwegian Lutheran Church. The new congregation and the mission were supported by the Church of Denmark at first which led to some hard feelings between the Mormon and Lutheran Danes. In order to keep the money coming west, Jensen wrote several anti-mormon editorials that were published in Denmark. A Danish Mormon newspaper, "The Beehive," attacked the "false report" that Jensen had published and Andrew Jenson, a church historian, wrote a rebuttal. The Danish newspaper refused to publish Jenson T s article, however. Despite these attacks from the Mormons, the Lutheran Danes in Utah continued to receive financial aid from the native country. In 1907 the Church of Denmark purchased the property for a Church from Ashby Snow and then provided the $14,330 of the $17,330 needed to build the church. Theodore Lauridsen, a draughtsman for Richard Kletting designed the building and Jens Huid was the mason. The Church was built in stages. The basement was completed in 1909, then the exterior and finally the interior and bell tower. The entire building was dedicated August 20, 1911. The Tabor Lutheran Church continued to use this building until 1963 when the congregation built a new Church at 709 E. 2nd S. The old chapel was sold to the Central Baptist Church. The Tabor Luterhan Church was established mainly to serve the Danes in the area, and services were held in their native language until 1940 when they first changed to English to attract new members. Although the Church's goal to convert the Mor­ mons back to their original faith was not achieved, the Church has helped meet the needs of some of the people in Salt Lake.