The Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Salem Church of Long Island City, L.I., New York was established in 1897 using a storefront at 703 Pomeroy Street (37th Street near 24th Avenue) as its initial place of worship. With Reverend Gustav Nilsenius as their first pastor, the congregation consisted of seven Swedish families residing in the Long Island City/Astoria area. The congregation commenced building its first church on a parcel of donated land on Potter Avenue (between 35th Street and 36th Street) in 1898. On February 9, 1899, the Clerk of the County of Queens recorded the incorporation of the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Salem Church in New York State.
The Hell Gate railroad viaduct, which began construction in 1910 and passed directly over the front of the church property, caused the Salem congregation to seek a new location for its church. After several years of temporarily sharing the Trinity Lutheran Church (a German congregation) on 37th Street, the Salem Church moved to a new home at 25-36 37th Street in the summer of 1924.
While the Salem Church was expanding and moving in Long Island City, on February 9, 1906 another Swedish church was incorporated as the Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Church of Corona. The Trinity congregation held services in Lake’s Hall in Corona until 1909, when they moved to their new church on 97th Street near 37th Avenue.
On February 20, 1948, the Salem Church officially changed its name to the Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church of Long Island City, New York and in November 1950 the Trinity Church changed its name to the Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church of Corona, New York. Subsequently, on January 28, 1954 the two churches merged and became the Augustana Evangelical Lutheran Church, located at the Salem Church’s building on 37th Street in Long Island City.
Seeking to erect a building that would support Augustana’s pledge of offering a program of sound family life to the community, the congregation initiated a building fund in 1955 that culminated in the purchase of property and commencement of construction of a new church at its present location at Ditmars Boulevard and Hazen Street in East Elmhurst. Construction was completed on January 28, 1963 and a Certificate of Occupancy was issued three days later. The finished product is a beautiful red brick church that has served the varied needs of the Augustana congregation, as well as those of many of our neighbors and friends, for more than 40 years and will continue to do so far into the future.
Today’s Augustana is a far cry from its founding Swedish Lutheran churches of 100 plus years ago. Although we are immensely proud of our church’s Swedish heritage, today our congregation is a diverse mixture of national origins and ethnic backgrounds.
