Biography of Wollert Hildahl

Wollert Hildahl, born August 26, 1875, in Odda, Hardanger, Norway, was a prominent figure in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, after emigrating to the United States in 1893. Educated in Bergen, Norway, Hildahl became a well-respected writer and editor, deeply involved in the Scandinavian community. He led the Minnehaha Mandskor, a key Scandinavian musical organization, and edited the Syd Dakota Ekko, a newspaper serving the region’s Scandinavian population. Hildahl married Emma Julia Lien in 1902, and they had one son, Jonas Lien. His contributions to cultural and civic life earned him widespread recognition.


Wollert Hildahl.—As the name indicates, the subject of this sketch is of Scandinavian birth, being a native of Norway, born at Odda, Hardanger, on the 26th of August, 1875. When two years old he was taken by his parents to the city of Bergen, where he spent his childhood and youth, receiving his educational training at “Hans Tank of Hastrus og Hambro’s” schools of that place. In 1893 Mr. Hildahl came to the United States and, proceeding directly to South Dakota, has since been a resident of the city of Sioux Falls. He is a gentleman of scholarly attainments and refined tastes, a clean, forcible and fluent writer, and since becoming a resident of the United States has made rapid progress in acquiring a knowledge of this country and its institutions, being widely informed upon the leading questions and issues of the times and keeping himself in close touch with the trend of modern thought throughout the world. He has, since his naturalization, given evidence of his full sympathy with our government and, with an abiding faith in its perpetuity, he upholds its principles, standing at all times for good order and strict enforcement of the law. He is interested in secret fraternal and benevolent work, belonging to the Masonic fraternity at Sioux Falls and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at the same place, being an active participant in the deliberations of both organizations. Mr. Hildahl, on March 14, 1902, was united in marriage with Miss Emma Julia Lien, of Sioux Falls, the union resulting in the birth of one child, a son to whom has been given the name of Jonas Lien.

Mr. Hildahl has for many years been affiliated with the leading Scandinavian musical organization of the state, the Minnehaha Mandskor, and has served it in various capacities, as well as the Northwestern Scandinavian Singers’ Association, of which the Mandskor is a member. The Mandskor was organized December 11, 1890, and became a member of the Northwestern Scandinavian Singers’ Association at the time of its organization at Sioux Falls in 1891.

Mr. Hildahl has served as treasurer of the Minnehaha Mandskor, twice as its president, and upon two occasions was sent as a delegate to the national convention of the Northwestern Scandinavian Singers’ Association. By the latter body he was elected vice-president of the convention at Duluth in 1898 and in 1899, at St. Paul, he was honored by being chosen president.

In the year 1902 Mr. Hildahl took charge of the Syd Dakota Ekko, a paper devoted to the interests of his nationality in Dakota and the northwest and which for many years has also served the Northwestern Scandinavian Singers’ Association as its official organ, having published what is known to the singers as “Sangernes Spalte,” this department being the especial work of the present editor. Through the medium of his paper and otherwise, Mr. Hildahl exercises a wide and powerful influence among his fellow countrymen and is held in high esteem not only by the Scandinavian populace of the Dakotas, but by the general public as well.


Source: Robinson, Doane, History of South Dakota: together with mention of Citizens of South Dakota, [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen, 1904.


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