History Commons^™

Christian Hansen, "The Fairy Tale Man", Johannes Knudsen, Gudrun Nielsen, Translator

The Bridge

My grandfather, Christian Hansen, came to Tyler, Minnesota, 100 years ago (1888) to make his home and to assist Pastor H. J. Pedersen in the building and founding of a folk high school. Pedersen had just been selected to be the first pastor of the newly formed congregation and the area was beginning to develop from virgin prairie to an agricultural community. Christian Hansen was a member of the first faculty of the folk school and throughout his long life he contributed much to establishing a Danish-American cultural enclave which became known as Danebod.