July 1893. It immediately joined the temperance league and only resigned from the league in 1927 as a result of personality conflicts. Thirteen persons had been present at the founding meeting, and Henry Kangas was elected first president of the society. In a study of the Finnish temperance societies in Minnesota, Kolehmainen indicates that the Mt. Iron group had 72 members in 1911, but only 15 in 1941. The society built its own hall in 1895, another in 1905, erected on land purchased by the mine in 1940, which resulted in the hall being torn down. A feature of the society was its lending library of 300 books from Finland, procured in 1905, with Kalle Nissi serving as the first librarian. The society also had children's and youth groups working under its sponsorship.

Religious activity got its start immediately on the heels of the temperance work : in February 1894 a group of Finns met at Adolph Pernu's home, and there Henry Kangas proposed they begin collecting names for the founding of a congregation. Since 31 signatures were obtained, the project materialized : religious services were held in the beginning at members' homes, later at the temperance hall; the decision to join the Suomi Synod was taken unanimously in 1898; a church was built in 1916, and expanded in 1923. In 1940 the land on which the church stood was also bought by the mine, but the church was promptly moved to a new site and has served subsequently as the only Finnish meeting place in Mt. Iron. Up to 1942 the church was a part of the Virginia regional organization. Its former pastors were H. Sarvela, J.

Suomi Synod Church in Mt. Iron.

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