Norwegian-American Lutherans settling in the Flathead Valley in the late 1880s organized the area’s first Lutheran congregation in 1895. Organizational meetings were held in Christian and Mathilde Presbye’s home, and the first church was constructed on Kalispell’s west side. Church leaders changed its name from Norwegian Evangelical Lutheran to Bethlehem Lutheran in 1918, and by 1919 some services were conducted in English. Fundraising efforts to build a new church closer to downtown Kalispell continued throughout the 1920s. Poor local economic conditions and then the Great Depression slowed progress, but ultimately church members raised more than $15,000. Construction began in 1932 and continued while services were held in the new church’s basement auditorium. Architect Fred Brinkman—who designed the church and the funeral home across Sixth Street—specified a restrained Gothic style. Distinctive features include the offset tower, multiple hues of light brown brick, pointed arch windows with Gothic tracery, and white molded concrete trim. Inside the nave, massive, exposed roof beams with carved center and end brackets recall medieval construction methods. In 1937, the Reverend Lawrence Field dedicated the church to its youth.