Thought to be the oldest surviving Lutheran church in the east that is still holding services, Hessel Valley Lutheran Church in Chandler’s Valley began with the coming of Swedish immigrants in 1846 and was officially organized in 1854.

Stranded in Buffalo, N.Y. in August of 1846 after immigrating from Sweden with the intent of heading toward the midwest, following the path of so many Swedish immigrants at the time after the promise of free homesteading opportunities, were Germond and his wife Catherine Johnson and two daughters. Louise, age 9, and Josphine, age 7. They were left to care for a poorhouse in Sugar Grove while their parents returned to the Buffalo area in search of work, but within a few weeks, the girls had been bound out, Louise to the family of Thomas Struthers in Warren and Josephine to the family of Robert Falconer in Sugar Grove. The girls parents, learning of the fate of their daughters, made the journey back to find out the exact whereabouts of the girls and to ascertain their safety.

The Falconer family created what would have at that time been called “a situation” for the family, extending to the girl’s 18th birthday, and the entire family stayed in the Chandler’s Valley area. In fact, the Johnsons went back to Buffalo one last time to tell their fellow immigrants, also stalled in their westward migration toward the homestead ideas that had brought them across the ocean, to come to the Sugar Grove and Chandler’s Valley area instead, as it was so much like home. Very few Swedish immigrant groups stopped this far east at the time, making Chandler’s Valley a unique collection point throughout the remainder of history.

A small Swedish population was already gathering in Chandler’s Valley at that time, and Jonas Swensson was the pioneer pastor of the burgeoning Lutheran congregation in the area.

Eventually, the Hessel Valley congregation became known as the “mother church” of all Lutheran congregations in the area, baptizing children from as far away as Pittsburgh. In 1976 the King of Sweden visited the church, noting its historical significance to the history of the Swedish demographic in the United States.

The Hessel Valley Lutheran Church holds services every Sunday, with Adult Sunday School starting at 10 a.m. and services starting at 11 a.m. The church also focuses on outreach in its newest incarnation, and hosts outreach luncheons open to all members of the community one Wednesday a month as well as benefit suppers and gatherings for which any donations received will go to a charitable cause decided on by the congregation.