In the early settlement period, churches were the heart of community life as well as spiritual life, with congregations of friends and family often meeting in local homes until a church could be built. Central Lutheran Church was organized on March 14, 1874, at the Peter Eklund-Ned Lyden home with 20 charter members, all pioneer settlers in the largely Swedish community of Central Swede Grove near Pelican Rapids. In its early years the congregation was served first by mission pastor Rev. I. Kassa, who officiated at baptisms, weddings, confirmations, funerals, and occasional worship services, and then by Swedish Lutheran pastor Rev. S.J. Kronberg, who served until 1881. Kronberg brought theological student Lorentz.P. Stenstrom from Sweden, and Stenstrom preached his first sermon there in November 1879, served three congregations for a salary of $400 and a room in Elizabeth, and remained with the church for 39 years after building a farmstead with congregational help when his family arrived. Until a church building was completed in 1884, members met in homes such as A.F. Stenstrom's and in the District 35 East schoolhouse. Gustaf Ljund, John Johnson, and Carl Larson drew the building plans and each donated half an acre of land, while another acre was bought from Larson for five dollars; parishioners financed and built the church through money and labor, with landowners required to deliver 200 feet of logs to the sawmill by March 1, 1883, and furnishings added over time, including an organ purchased in 1890 as part of a total cost of $545.02. As members of different nationalities joined, the congregation changed its name from Central Swede Grove Lutheran Church to Central Lutheran Evangelical Church of the Augustana Synod at its annual meeting in December 1943. In 1953 and again the following year, proposals to move the congregation to Pelican Rapids were rejected, and after a majority voted against the move, a small group left to form Faith Lutheran Church; both congregations continued and flourished. Rural cemeteries were commonly built beside churches and followed denominational lines, while city cemeteries such as Oak Grove in Fergus Falls were non-denominational; some burial grounds were private family plots, and several American Indian burial grounds also existed. Headstones and grave markers preserve history through their inscriptions, symbols, and styles, and funeral businesses were often run from private homes or combined with furniture making, as in the case of E.T. Barnard, while coffins were made in furniture stores or by relatives and friends of the deceased.