Several Finnish Lutheran families settled in Cloverdale in the 1880s; however, there was no Lutheran Church in Florence for another fifty years. In 1936 Richard Hasz, a ministerial candidate, was sent by the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod to explore the possibility of founding a congregation, which was established in 1938. Our Redeemer Lutheran Church on North Poplar St. was officially dedicated in December, 1940. Its first pastor was Rev. Edmund Lambert.