Located in McHenry County, the town of Balfour had a population of 40 at the time of the 2014 census. It was founded in 1899 when the Soo Railroad was extended to that point. One year later, some of the people living there formed a Lutheran church, naming it Balfour Lutheran Church.

According to text written in 1932 by Rev. A.M. Buslee, the first pastor to serve the church, the greater number of people who settled in the Balfour vicinity came from the Norwegian settlements in Minnesota, South Dakota, Wisconsin and the eastern part of North Dakota.

Shortly after the early settlers built their homestead shacks and sod houses, they decided to build a church. During the summer of 1900, Rev. T.T. Wiprud arrived in Balfour and invited the settlers to join a Lutheran congregation. The services were held on the second floor of the former A.B. Melhouse store building on Main Street.

On Sunday, Oct. 28, 1900, the Balfour Norwegian Lutheran Congregation was officially organized, consisting of about 20 families and five single men. It was soon found necessary to find a larger meeting place. For six years, the congregation worshipped in different places until October 1905 when a meeting was held and the decision was made to build a church. The church was completed in 1909.

The first worship service was held in the new church on Nov. 4, 1906, and dedicated on June 27, 1909.

For several years, the parish had consisted of Drake, Balfour, Butte and Kief congregations. However, the Drake church merged with another Lutheran church in Drake and decided they wanted a full time pastor. The Balfour, Butte and Kief parish was then formed.

The Kief church closed in 1970 and some of the members transferred to Balfour. In the 1970s, Balfour shared ministers with the Butte church.

Since about 1987, Balfour Lutheran Church has closed from early December until Easter to save heating costs, according to a written history from congregation member Carol Evenrud.

“There are handwritten records of our church history since 1900,” Evenrud said. “The early records are written in Norwegian, so it is difficult to interpret them unless one has knowledge of the Norwegian language.” The record book from 1900-1906 was microfilmed for the Evangelical Lutheran Church Archives at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Unfortunately, membership at Balfour Lutheran Church has been declining over the past 25 years. The church will be closing June 12, 2016.