Irwin church to celebrate 150th anniversary; founded by Swedish immigrants

A Lutheran church in Irwin founded by Swedish immigrants 150 years ago will celebrate its landmark anniversary Sunday morning with a special service.

Immanuel Lutheran Church, at 612 Chestnut St., will celebrate the anniversary at its 11:15 a.m. service with Bishop Kurt F. Kusserow of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Refreshments will be served before the service.

The church remains active after a century-and-a-half, with about 50 members, said Bonnie Stecik, president of the church council.

“Even though our numbers are small, we do much with outreach,” Stecik said.

In the past year, the church has supported several local, national and international causes, Stecik said.

As a concession to its small size, the church joined the Pittsburgh Lutheran United Ministries in October 2020, a cooperative ministry that shares four Lutheran ministers with 10 other Lutheran churches in the Pittsburgh region. Pastor Brenda Henry is a frequent leader of the services.

“It’s perfect,” Stecik said.

Immanuel Lutheran is one of two Lutheran churches in Irwin, the other being the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Holy Trinity at 522 Main St. There were so many Lutherans who settled in the Irwin area that Immanuel was not the first Lutheran church. The Brush Creek Evangelical Lutheran Church on Brush Creek Road in North Huntingdon dates to the 1770s. Other Lutheran churches were founded along Clay Pike in North Huntingdon and in Paintertown, Penn Township.

Church history

Irwin was founded in 1864 in an area known as Irwin Station along the Pennsylvania Railroad’s main line between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg.

The church was founded in 1872 by about 20 immigrants from Hoganas, a fishing and coal mining village in northwestern Sweden. They found work in the area’s many coal mines, according to church history.

The new congregation was known as the Swedish Evangelical Westby Church because most of the people came from the Westby Parish in Sweden. They started worshipping in a member’s home.

The congregation bought the land on Chestnut Street for $400 in 1875. The men had built the wooden church after working their shifts in the mine.

By the turn of the 20th century, Pittsburgh industrial magnate Andrew Carnegie donated $500 for a pipe organ, with the provision that the congregation would raise a similar amount. A brick facing was placed on the wooden frame and a bell tower was added.

Swedish was still the language of the worship service, Sunday school, confirmation class and ladies organizations. The congregation later dropped the “homeland” name of Westby, and replaced it with Immanuel. English replaced Swedish as the language of choice for the services.

“The heart and soul of this church has always been its people. That continues to this day,” Stecik said.