The northcentral region of Wisconsin was settled heavily by German, Estonian, and Latvian immigrants during the Westward Expansion era in American history, in part because the environment and climate reminded them of their homelands. In 1907 a group of Estonian immigrants got together to purchase some land to build their community church on. The church itself was completed seven years later.
At some point in the mid 20th century the church fell into abandonment before being bought by an Estonian movie director in 1964. By that point the church had already been heavily vandalized, and several items such as the bell and pulpit had been stolen.
In the decades since that movie director and his family have made it their goal to restore the church. In 1992 they successfully filed to make it a landmark, but restoration efforts have been hindered by a lack of funding and volunteers, vandals, and a insurance companies unwilling to insure the project due to the questionable structural safety of the roof. Despite these setbacks restoration work continued as recently as 2019.
As of 2021 however, no further progress seems to have been made and the project's website is no longer online. It is unknown whether the restoration efforts have merely stalled or have been abandoned altogether. The church is well known among urbex circles in Northcentral Wisconsin and is one of the most iconic abandoned structures in the state.
The view looking straight up the steeple where the bell once was. The bell was stolen sometime prior to the 1970s.
The pulpit, which was replaced after the original one was stolen sometime prior to the 1970s. The rose on it is real, indicating that despite its state this church still sees at least a few visitors.