Venersborg Church, located seven miles east of Battle Ground, has been in existence for 100 years and members will celebrate by hosting a community-wide event Thurs., July 4, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., at the church, 24317 NE 209th St., Battle Ground, and at the Historic Venersborg Schoolhouse next door.
The event will consist of a barbecue, activities for children, antiques on display, live music, old cars, trucks, tractors, pictures of the community from “yesteryear,” along with an audio/visual historic review of the community and church. Invited speakers will help commemorate this 100-year milestone while acknowledging the birthday of the nation. There are no costs or donations involved in attending this event.
According to a history write up by Tom Moberg, a church member and life-long resident of Venersborg, Venersborg started in the early 1900s as a result of a land development company based in Portland. They bought land from the railroad, government and old homesteads, plotting it into 10- to 40-acre parcels and selling them to Swedish immigrants. Moberg’s grandparents were among the founding Swedish families that started the area.
The parcels were advertised using posters written in Swedish with attractive pictures tacked to light poles and sign posts in immigration entry cities in the eastern U.S. and Canada. The concept worked, newly-arriving Swedes found something in their language on the street as they looked for accommodations and followed the poster’s instructions moving across the country on trains. Once in Portland, they selected their property, signed for loans and moved to their new land looking forward to a new life in a country with freedoms only dreamed about back home. The new name of their “colony” was called Venersborg, which has origins in the English phonetically pronounced Swedish words for friend (‘van’, or plural, ‘vanner’- friends) and for a safe place (‘borg’). The early settlers would roughly translate the English spelling of the name Venersborg for those who asked for a meaning as a “friendly haven.”
Attendees who come to this community event can hear the story of what happened as huge wood-fired dryers and the Bell Mountain Cannery put Venersborg on the map. From the start, these folks experienced two world wars, the Great Depression and technological advances. However, those world events affected their livelihood such that now there remain less than 10 descendants from those original families. Many of those who now reside in the area may not know they are actually in Venersborg, as the commonly Census Designated Area contains only about 30 percent of what the school district, post office, utility companies and county land records defined as Venersborg.
This event was chosen to celebrate on the Fourth of July in part to acknowledge the early Swedes who recognized the value of the freedoms (which included allowing them their own religion) this new country offered. Jonas Forsgren, one of Venersborg Church’s early founders, bought an American flag on his way home with the first money he earned in the U.S. Later, viewing his daughter’s graduation with an advanced degree, he stated: “Only in America could a serf’s daughter achieve this.” Sweden’s caste system kept Lapps (native born Swedes) in a serf like position.
Venersborg Church has operated continuously through the years with a history of roots in two semi-underground religious movements in Sweden where the state religion is still government-controlled Lutheran. From those efforts in the old country, two churches were built and functioned, but later joined forces (and buildings) 45 years after the start. Through the years it has continued to function as an independent conservative evangelical church offering truth from the scriptures that save the soul.
For more information, contact the church at (360) 687-6071 or visit www.venersborg.org.
