​Gilpin Historical Society 

Since you can't come to the history right now, we'll bring some history to you...

Johannes Hultman (seated) and his brother (name unknown) were evangelists for the Swedish Evangelical Mission Covenant Church.  Johannes was born in Sweden in 1861.  He came to the United States in 1869 with his family, settling in Iowa.  He started preaching at age 16, though he did not become an ordained minister until 1900.  Prior to that he was pastor at a church in Nebraska for many years while also traveling throughout the United States and Sweden to help establish more churches.  He and his brother visited Central City in the late 1880s or early 1890s to help establish the Evangelical Free Church, though the location of the church remains a mystery.  In 1900 he moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, where he became ordained and served as the assistant pastor for six years before resigning to devote more time to his travel and music activities.  Johannes was an accomplished singer and songwriter and during his lifetime he wrote music for more than 500 hymns, and in 1889 he traveled the United States with P.P. Waldenstrom on a preaching tour for which he provided the music.  From 1896-1897 he was part of the music faculty at North Park University and helped fund the construction of Caroline Hall there with his music earnings.  After resigning as assistant pastor, he and his son operated the Hultman Conservatory of Music in Worcester before moving to Chicago.  Between 1906 and 1936 he frequently traveled the United States and to Sweden to perform his songs, earning the nickname the “Sunshine Singer” because of his engaging personality and the uplifting nature of his songs (many of them can be found on YouTube under J.A. Hultman).  Wherever he traveled he brought his portable organ with him, which became one of his trademarks.  Hultman continued to preach and sing until his death in Glendale, California in 1942.