Synod of the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

In February 1853, several Lutheran ministers including Claus Lauritz Clausen, Hans Andreas Stub, Adolph Carl Preus, Herman Amberg Preus, G. F. Dietrichson, Jacob Aall Ottesen, and R. D. Brandt organized the Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, commonly known as the Norwegian Synod.

It was organized at Koshkonong and Luther Valley near the Jefferson Prairie Settlement outside Madison, Wisconsin.

Luther College was founded near La Crosse, Wisconsin, in 1861, and relocated to Decorah, Iowa, the next year.

[2] In 1876, the denomination established Luther Seminary in Madison, Wisconsin, (later moved to St. Paul).

However, the Norwegian Synod soon experienced internal division over questions concerning predestination and conversion, and during the 1880s about a third of its congregations left.