6949 County 30 Boulevard
Kenyon, MN, USA

Holden Lutheran Church Parsonage

Holden Lutheran Church Parsonage is a historic church parsonage at Kenyon in Wanamingo Township, Goodhue County, Minnesota. The building is located on the north side of Goodhue County Highway 8. The building was added to the National Register in 1980.

The house was built circa 1861 as the parsonage for Holden Lutheran Church. With successive enlargements and alterations, it was the residence of Reverend Bernt Julius Muus, who served as the first resident pastor of the congregation until 1899. In 1869, Rev. Muus founded the Holden Academy in the parsonage as an institution of higher religious education. He served as principal of the academy until 1874. The distance from a rail line compelled him to encourage the founding of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Rev. Muus was also bishop of the Minnesota District of the Synod of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America which he served until shortly before his death in 1900.

National Register of Historic Places - Holden Lutheran Church Parsonage

Statement of Significance:

The Holden Church Parsonage is significant for its association with the Rev. B.J. Muus, one of the fathers of the Norwegian Lutheran Church in southeastern Minnesota, and for its being the birthplace of St. Olaf College.

B.J. Muus, who came to Goodhue County in 1859, was the first minister of the established Church of Norway to locate in Minnesota, Using the Holden Church as his base of operations (and living in its parsonage), Muus ministered to congregations in eight counties and eventually founded six churches (in addition to the one at Holden) and twenty parochial schools. In 1869, Muus established the Holden Academy in the Holden Church Parsonage, as an institution of higher religious education. In 1874, realizing the • futility of running a school twenty-three miles away from the nearest railroad, Muus moved the academy to Northfield and changed its name to St. Olaf College. Muus served as St. Olaf's first president and later as president of the Norwegian Lutheran Synod that included Minnesota and all the states to the west. Muus continued to preach at the Holden Church, and live in its Parsonage, until shortly before his death in 1900.