Resurrection Lutheran Church to celebrate 100 years of history and service

Resurrection Lutheran Church will celebrate its 100-year anniversary Sept. 18-20, 2026.

(Submitted by Resurrection Lutheran Church)

The community is invited to the following centennial celebration events at Resurrection Lutheran Church, located at 740 W. Tenth Street:

1) Friday, Sept. 18, from 5-7 p.m.: Meet and greet, with appetizers and punch;

2) Saturday, Sept. 19, from 2-4 p.m.: Display of historic artifacts, records, and photos from church archives. Come to view and sign your or a family member's baptism, confirmation, or wedding as recorded in RLC's archival library; and

3) Sunday, Sept. 20, at 9:30 am: Centennial Worship Service with Pastor Mark Holman, Pastor Mark Griffith (confirmed on the M/V Christian boat on Prince of Wales Island), and Alaska Synod Bishop Tim Oslovich, coffee hour following the service.

On April 11, 1926, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, now known as Resurrection Lutheran Church, was formally organized in Juneau with 46 charter members (some descendants still live in Juneau). RLC followed Immanuel Lutheran Church in Douglas, incorporated in 1915. After the Treadwell Mines cave-in and flooding in 1917, Immanuel Lutheran Church ceased to exist by 1920; the church structure later burned during the 1937 Douglas fire.

Resurrection Lutheran Church installed its first pastor, the Rev. Harry R. Allen, on Sept. 22, 1926. Prior to 1926, worship was held in the Moose Hall before moving to the Odd Fellows Hall on the corner of Second and Franklin Streets. The new congregation purchased an old cigar factory on Third and Main in 1926.

Contractors and congregants collaborated in renovating the building. The first floor became the church’s chapel, and the second floor was turned into living quarters for Pastor Allen and his wife, Ruth.

Pews were purchased from the old Immanuel Church in Douglas, barged across Gastineau Channel, then moved by congregant Olaf Torkelsen to the church by horse-drawn wagon. The Calhoun overpass, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps for safe access to Capital School, is named for him.  His daughter, Katherine Torkelsen Alexander Hurley, the church organist, was chief clerk of Alaska’s Constitutional Convention.

The debt on the church building, lot, and all loans were paid off by 1930, and RLC was no longer a mission church. The membership had tripled to 150 communicants and continued to grow through the 1930s, when Juneau’s population reached approximately 3,700, tourism averaged around 8,000 yearly, and the Mendenhall Glacier was receding.

RLC’s congregation included several Japanese-American families. After Dec. 7, 1941, some of these families were sent to internment camps in the Lower 48. RLC was an anchor for its Japanese-American members before, during, and after their internment. During World War II, RLC also served as a center for hundreds of service members housed at the Duck Creek Quonset huts.

By the early 1950s, Resurrection Lutheran Church outgrew its building, and in 1953 purchased property on Tenth and Glacier Avenue. In 1954, a new building was dedicated with nearly 1,000 people attending. An education wing was added in 1968. An arson fire in 1973 destroyed the building. RLC rebuilt on the original foundations in 1975, using a design by architect Milton Stricker, a former apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright. Significant remodels of the narthex, library, and toilet rooms (and the addition of a new elevator) were completed in 1997, and a major front entry addition was built in 2013.

Through the years, Resurrection Lutheran Church has been known for its educational programs including preschools, Sunday schools, confirmation, and adult classes. Its musical offerings, outstanding vocal and bell choirs, music directors, and musicians were and are renowned in the community.

In 1985, 19 families from RLC, including 57 baptized and 35 confirmed members, transferred to Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, a new mission church. This was the seventh church that RLC participated in starting or restarting.

Resurrection Lutheran Church has hosted concerts and meetings for numerous groups, from Bach singers to Tlingit dancers to the Juneau String Ensembles. RLC continues to run an active food pantry and quilting group, and extends a warm welcome and service to all people.