It was founded in 1874 by Brynild Anundsen, a native of Skien, Norway, and widely read by Scandinavian immigrants in several states.

[1] Its origin may be traced to the appearance at La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1866, of the first Norwegian-American literary magazine, Ved Arnen ("By the Fireside"), which would later become a feuilleton supplement to Decorah-Posten.

[2] A popular feature of the Decorah-Posten was news contributed by Norwegian immigrants and their descendants from many localities in the upper Midwest.

The newspaper frequently featured, usually in the Ved Arnen section, Norwegian-language stories and books in serial form, most notably the work of Hans Andersen Foss.

During much of this period, he also served as editor of Symra, a Norwegian-language literary magazine which was also published in Decorah, Iowa.