Wilhelm Kristjanson writes in his book The Icelandic People in Manitoba the following:
“The Skjaldborg congregation, orthodox Lutheran, was organized in the “West End” of Winnipeg in 1913. A small frame church was built at Ellice Avenue and Burnell Street. The main reason for the founding of this church, which drew on the membership of the First Lutheran Church, then located on Bannatyne Avenue and Nena Street, was the long walking distance to church services from the West End, and even the time required for travel by street car. Another factor was the readiness of Thorsteinn Oddson, a wealthy real estate man who had recently left the Tabernacle congregation, to lend active support. Oddson was the financial mainstay of the Skjaldborg church, and it was through his munificence that the building of the church was accomplished. The membership of the congregation was never large, numbering 110 adults and 65 children in 1914 but the atmosphere was more homelike in Skjaldborg than in the larger churches. Pastor of the church from 1913 to 1919 was Reverend Runolfur Marteinsson, a nephew of Reverend Jon Bjarnason, followed by Reverend Runolfur Runolfsson from 1919 to 1921. …The congregation flourished for a few years, but in 1923, with Oddson moved to California, and with some pressure from the First Lutheran Church, the Skjaldborg congregation ceased to function and the members returned to the First Lutheran Church.”
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