Where Frontier Faith Took Root: Lenora Methodist Church and Its Circuit-Rider Origins

LENORA, MINNESOTA – An enduring testament to pioneer faith, strength, community and perseverance, Lenora Methodist Episcopal Church is among the oldest Methodist structures in Minnesota.

The heart of the small hamlet of Lenora, located in Fillmore County’s Canton Township, the church is nestled in the rural countryside away from the busy bustle of modern life. With simplistic rustic features and no modern amenities, visiting this historic church is akin to traveling back to 1865.

It was founded by Reverend John Lewis Dyer, a Methodist circuit rider who envisioned a thriving town with the church at its center.

Dyer saw each church as a beacon of hope and faith to earliest inhabitants facing financial, physical and emotional hardships in frontier land made available for white settlement by the 1851 Treaty of Traverse des Sioux – an agreement later marred by coercion and broken U.S. promises.

Dyer who christened the town Lenora, which means “light or shining light,” a fitting name for the religiously-focused community he dreamed of creating. But sadly, he would not see his vision become a reality, leaving before the church’s completion, heading west to Colorado where he was known as “The Snow-Shoe Itinerant.”

Lenora Methodist: A circuit rider’s call to faith

The area surrounding Lenora was originally referred to as Richland Prairie, with the Methodist circuit rider assignment titled Richland Circuit.

With these circuits, ministers traveled hundreds of miles on horseback and experienced hazardous weather, sickness and other wilderness perils. They would preach in homes and schoolhouses, as well as outdoor camps.

These ministers organized revivals highlighted by passionate sermons and a call to religious life, the goal to grow the Methodist faith in the Minnesota Territory.

Historic Lenora Methodist Church still stands in its country setting. (Photo Amy Jo Hahn)

The first pastor assigned to Richland Circuit was Reverend Benjamin Crist. He began preaching in what would become Houston, Fillmore and Olmsted Counties in 1854.

The 1887 History of Methodism by Hobart Chauncey described Crist as a dedicated “pioneer Methodist minister and evangelical itinerant missionary . . . whose appointments at wide intervals of distance and four weeks of time, were met through sunshine and storm, with regularity of a through express train.”

In the fall of 1855, at the Methodist Episcopal Conference in Racine, Wis., Crist was assigned another circuit and Dyer took over Richland. Dyer, who’d lost his wife and youngest child a few years previously, left his children in the care of his sister and began his Minnesota ministry. Under Dyer’s leadership, several organized congregations were formed.

He preached two or three times each Sunday, held evening appointments and dedicated himself to a two-week circuit ride, visiting eight communities, often adding additional ones when given the opportunity.

After being assigned Richland again (renamed Preston Circuit), Dyer staked a claim in the town he’d call Lenora and built a cabin.

Dyer eventually acquired more acreage and his religious ambitions grew. He wanted a town founded in Methodist teachings. And at its center would be a church of his own creation.

The church interior is still used today for holiday services. (Photo Amy Jo Hahn)

He donated 40 acres for the cause, and the building of Lenora’s church commenced. But the first phase of building had hardly started when a financial catastrophe swept the country, causing great stress to Minnesota Territory pioneers.

The Financial Panic of 1857: Reverend John Dyer heads West

Construction of the church came to an abrupt halt due to the Financial Panic of 1857. The crisis started when a ship carrying gold to New York sank.

In combination with large financial risks and investment overreach, this incident caused one of the nation’s largest financial institutions to fail and declare bankruptcy. A ripple effect ensued across the country, causing additional banks to shutter and damaging the New York Stock Exchange.

In Minnesota, immigration dropped significantly, supplies stopped coming from the East and land values plummeted. This had dire consequences since settlers had been encouraged to purchase hundreds of acres for farming and development of over 300 towns.

Much of this land was secured with high interest loans from Eastern banks. Many pioneers struggled financially and they could not make loan payments or buy necessities. Businesses failed and schools closed.

Illustration of the Panic of 1857, Run on Seamen’s Savings Bank from Harpers Weekly. (Acquired through Public Domain)

Due to extreme economic hardship, many immigrants returned East to be closer to their families.

Within three years, large wheat crops increased land value and immigrants flowed back into the state, helping it prosper. However, it was too late for many, their manifest destiny dreams destroyed.

Dyer wrote in his autobiography how the crisis “was much worse here, from the fact that we were all new settlers. The majority of the people had spent most, if not all, that they brought with them, and had not time as yet to make anything off their farms.”

Other financial misfortunes befell Dyer, including a business investment that went defunct when the mortgage defaulted, and lack of decent income. “Suffice to say,” he recalled, “I was financially burst; actually, sold my mule to pay a debt, and started on foot to my circuit.”

An oil lantern stands on the wide windowsill before an eight-paned window in historic Lenora Church. (Photo by Amy Hahn)

And yet another blow, this one spiritual and emotional. According to Dyer, Lenora’s leaders told him he could no longer use the schoolhouse for his sermons. When Dyer asked congregation members to speak against his banishment, no one protested.

And so, Dyer reflected, “On the nineth day of May, 1861, I left Lenora on a splendid riding animal . . .  As I left Minnesota, I could but reflect on the six years passed in that new country. First, I counted up over five hundred penitents whom I had seen at the altar . . . I had been the first preacher in many places, and formed societies; and in this I praised God . . .”

Dyer found spiritual fulfillment in Colorado, preaching to residents of remote mountain towns and mining camps. In addition, he delivered mail, traveling through dangerous mountain passages in blizzard conditions, with trails sometimes covered in 20 feet of snow.

Wrote Dyer, “My snow-shoes were of the Norway style, from nine to eleven feet in length, and ran well when the snow was just right, but very heavy when they gathered snow. I carried a pole to jar the sticking snow off.”

Because of his influence and fortitude, Dyer is considered one of Colorado’s 16 founders. His stained glass image is showcased in the rotunda of Colorado’s State Capitol.

As for Lenora, despite a wheat boom and an influx of new immigrants, no progress was made on the church. The start of The American Civil War assured no further construction would be done until the conflict concluded.

Finally finished: Lenora Methodist opens for worship 

The Civil War ended in April 1865 so Lenora citizens moved forward with construction of the church that had long eluded them.

The stone used to start the first structure was recycled and used for the new church. A stonemason, the name of which is yet to be discovered, was hired to build the smaller and more modest church, which consisted of a rectangular building with a low-pitched gable roof and a single room.

It was opened in 1866, dedicated by the Reverend Daniel Cobb, and had an active congregation until 1925 when it officially closed. The Methodist Historical Society of the Minnesota Conference commemorated the church’s historical significance with a plaque and dedication in 1962.

Lenora Church commemorative Dyer plaque (left) and Lenora Church Methodist Historic Site Plaque (right). (Photos by Amy Hahn)

Lenora and its church are historically unique. Its 1982 National Registry for Historic Places submission description states that “The townsite of Lenora was unusual among these 1850s developments in that, unlike the usual pattern of a commercial entrepreneur acting as proprietor, it was developed as a religious community by Methodist minister John Dyer.”

The church survives due to the dedicated efforts of a group of volunteers who continue to preserve it and welcome the public inside the church’s hallowed walls for monthly services and special events May through November.

In December, attending one of its beautiful evening Christmas services amidst the warm glow of lighted oil lamps is a popular and beloved tradition – a tradition Reverend Dyer would no doubt be proud of. Because despite the fact he left Minnesota slightly bitter and discouraged, he did write fondly about his ministry in Lenora and the circuit he served, saying, “Here, in the almost wild prairie, we had a gracious time.”