West Denmark Lutheran Church is blessed to have a large, 19-acre campus on the
western shore of Little Butternut Lake. Here, for over 150 years, the congregation has
carried out its mission and showcased its Danish Heritage. We use our campus and
buildings for our own purposes, for rental income, and to host a variety of programs
and events that are open to the general public.
In addition to the buildings described below, there is also a parsonage (that is currently
undergoing a refresh following the retirement of our former pastor) and a storage facility.
Because of significant hail and storm damage several years ago, all the buildings have
new roofs, siding, gutters, and repaired or newly replaced windows.
And, just for fun, plans for this year include the construction
of an outdoor, wood-fired pizza oven!
The Church
2478 170th Street, Luck, Wisconsin
The present church building was completed in 1987. (See the “Our History” section for a “Tale of Three Church Buildings.”) It houses worship space (with large windows overlooking Little Butternut Lake), fellowship space, a library, educational classrooms, the church offices, and the Woodland School.
Three brothers (the Petersens), members of the congregation, served as general contractors for the construction of the new church. They also supervised a large number of volunteers, also members of the congregation, who served as laborers. The chancel furniture is also the work of church members: two brothers who are grandsons of Jes Smidt, whose work decorated the previous church building.
An old brochure about the history of West Denmark says this about the new building:
“This is a church built for the future, grounded in tradition, cooperatively planned and built, and dedicated, not as a monument to the past, nor to its builders, but to a community of God’s people living in harmony with each other and with nature.”
The brochure also notes that the excavation for the basement unearthed a glacial stone from where it had lain for 15,000 years. It was placed at the entrance to the new church.
“It is a fitting memorial to the early settlers–unpretentious, square, hard, but with the softened edges that come with hard work, suffering and caring. It symbolizes the toil of the first settlers as they cleared the land of trees and stones to gain tillable land to sustain themselves and their children.”
Fast forward to modern times as the congregation embraces clean energy. In 2018, West Denmark contracted with Legacy Solar, Inc., of Luck, Wisconsin, to install a solar array. The panels feed solar-generated electricity directly to the main church building. At the time of installation, it was estimated that the array would supply 30% of the building’s electricity needs.
IN THE PHOTO: Kris Schmid, of Legacy Solar, Inc.,
leads a class on solar energy, at the site of the West
Denmark array, at the 2025 Family Camp.
The Parish Hall
2492 170th Street, Luck, Wisconsin
This is how the historical brochure mentioned above describes the origins of the Parish Hall (sometimes referred to over the years as the Gym Hall):
“Basic to the Grundtvigian and Danish folk school tradition is the principle that spiritual, the social, the physical, the artistic, and the intellectual aspects of the human life are all God-given and important. It was in this tradition that the Parish Hall was built in 1915 by the Young People’s Society. Its purpose was to serve as a meeting place for social gatherings, as a lecture hall for speakers, as a gymnasium for instruction in Danish gymnastics, as a theater, and as a place for enjoying folk games and dances.”
Today, the Hall is still used for many of those purposes. It is the site for church events such as the Christmas Jultre celebration, the pre-Lenten festival of Fastelavns, and the annual Aebleskiver dinner. It is home base for the annual Family Camp and West Denmark Fiddle School. And, it is loaned or rented to outside community groups such as the Farmer’s Union and National Catholic Worker Farmers.
The Dane School
Set back across the Great Lawn
near the shore of Little Butternut Lake
This building originally housed a two-classroom school for children of Danish immigrants. Information on the origin of the school is sparse, but an article in a 1993 issue of The Bridge, a publication of the Danish American Heritage Society, offers some insight. Writing about West Denmark Lutheran Church in “Danes in Polk County, Wisconsin,” author A. Bobjerg notes that “by 1889 the goal was reached to have a congregational church school built” and that the first teacher was Andreas Ravenholdt.
The building sat vacant for a long time and was used for storage. But, just a few years ago, it was rehabilitated. As part of that project, the building was raised and a basement added, which contains an apartment that is rented out. The original two classrooms, complete with original chalk boards and the teacher’s desk, still exist. (You can learn more about rehabing the Dane School in the second video below.)
Today, the Dane School is used for a number of intimate gatherings, both by the congregation and community groups, including the popular, annual Fish Boil.
Watch the Petersen brothers talk about the West Denmark Campus
Two videos produced in 2022 feature the Petersen brothers discussing construction projects they have carried out over the years on the West Denmark Campus.
The first, reminiscing about the construction of the present church building, is here.
The second, about renovations to the Parish Hall and the Dane School, is here.
Fascinating!
The care and maintenance of the buildings and grounds of the campus of
West Denmark Lutheran Church are faithfully managed by the Property Committee:
Ronnie Petersen, Jeff Wetzig, and Bill Brumfield
With assistance from:
Carl Hansen, Paul Petersen, Norman Hansen, Mike Miles, and Tom Scott
Thank you!