Lenora Methodist Episcopal Church was built between 1856–1865, anchor of one of Fillmore County's few settlements established before railroad access.
Together with God’s help we build a new day following in the ministry of Jesus. We welcome you, and hope you will enjoy your visit to Lenora Church. May you be refreshed, renewed, and recharged…knowing that God loves you!
The Fillmore County area in southeast Minnesota is a place filled with beauty and wonder…the rolling hills, bluffs, meadows, fields, woods, and rivers speak to the soul. Situated in the tiny rural village of Lenora, the Lenora United Methodist Church was the first church built in the county. Begun in 1856, rebuilt in 1865, the doors of the historic stone church are open again for Christian ministry.
The old stone church at Lenora is one of the few stone churches built by pioneer Methodists in Minnesota. The Reverend John L. Dyer, a frontier evangelist, was appointed in 1855 to the Richland Circuit in Fillmore County. He donated 40 acres of his “claim” for the town site of Lenora. The sale of lots enabled construction to begin on the stone church in 1856. The 1857 financial panic stopped the project. In 1865 the same stone was used to build the present structure. A plaque commemorates John Dyer and all pioneer Methodist preachers in Southern Minnesota. Active and vital until about 1925, a declining Lenora area population dictated its closing. The church once counted 400 members and sheltered the largest religious library in the region.
