Thirty Swedish settlers in Harlan and Phelps counties organized Bethel Lutheran Church on November 12, 1877, at the home and post office of Gustaf Hanson, located seven miles south and two miles east of Holdrege in Harlan County. Their first church, a small sod structure, was built at this site in Phelps County on ground in the N.W. quarter of Section 31, Divide Precinct, donated by Mathias Hedlund. A cemetery south of the church received graves as late as 1932. Lay pastors serving the congregation were Olof Hedlund and C. J. Johnson, and Pastor J. E. Swanborn was the first called pastor. The sod church was replaced in 1884 by a frame church built in Holdrege. In 1892, a frame building was erected at this site for summer use as a "Swede School" for the children of the congregation. The native prairie grass remains as a reminder of the past and of the commitment and sacrifice these early pioneers made to affirm their Christian faith.