Church History

Church History
MOUNT OLIVE CHURCH HISTORY
Mount Olive Lutheran Church was organized in 1921 by a group of people who lived in the Eastern part of Duluth, but belonged St. Stephen's, a Missouri Synod church in West Duluth. In 1922 a church was built on the corner of 19th Avenue East and 4th Street as the new church home.

The Lord blessed the congregation with continued growth and in 1956 they purchased Trinity Episcopal Cathedral at 2012 East Superior Street. This has been the home of Mount Olive since then.

Two major renovation projects have been completed in our church since 1956. The first was in 1970, which was followed by an expansion project in 1993. This major facility project, which required reversing the sanctuary to accommodate the structural changes, added needed office space, classrooms, meeting rooms, and made the building handicap accessible by adding an elevator.

PASTORS
The pastors that have served at Mount Olive since the church was organized are as follows:
  • Rev. Walter Sievers (5/1/1921 - 12/3/1922)
  • Rev. Edgar Kirsch (12/17/1922 - 8/22/1940)
  • Rev. Lawrence Gallman (1/26/1941 - 4/4/1948)
  • Rev. Lambert Brose (7/8/1948 - 7/10/1949)
  • Rev. Walter Bouman (11/6/1949 - 6/26/1955)
  • Rev. Gerhardt Rusch (8/14/1955 - 12/31/1961)
  • Rev. Lewis Robert Reinemann (8/19/1962 - 7/31/1994)
  • Rev. David Bruce Magruder (12/22/1991 - 2/13/2005)
  • Rev. Robert Charles Franck (6/1995 - present)
CURRENT PASTOR
The current pastor of the Mount Olive congregation is Pastor Robert Franck. He graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary, Ft. Wayne, Indiana in 1991. He served at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Alma, Arkansas from 1991 - 1995. He began at Mt. Olive in June, 1995 as the Associate Pastor/Campus Pastor and was installed as the senior pastor on November 12, 2006.