Minnesota Temples

A century-old church in northeast section of Minneapolis was identified as the potential location for a formal place of worship for the members of the society. On February 2, 1979, a purchase agreement was signed to legally make 1835 Polk Street NE a property of the Hindu Society of Minnesota. Three couples namely Shanti & P.C. Mangalick, Kumud & Shashikant Sane and Kusum & Krishna Saxena initially contributed $5,000 apiece to meet $15,000 down payment for the purchase of the property. The antiquated church became the Hindu Society of Minnesota's new Hindu Mandir.

On February 17, 1979, first formal Hindu prayers and services were performed in the Hindu Mandir in the presence of ten families. Framed pictures of Sri Ram Parivar, Sri Krishna, Sri Ganesh, Sri Saraswati Sri Laxmi and Sri Mahadev adorned the main dais as the society inaugurated this new temple.

In the fall of 1979, Dr.Krishna Saxena was formally elected as the chairman of the Board of Trustees, Dr. Shashikant Sane was elected as the Vice-Chairman of the Board and Dr.Padmakar Dixit was elected as the President of the Executive Committee for the year starting 1980. The following ten individuals were the Board of Trustees, by the end of 1979. Mr. Srinivas Kolatkar, Dr. Suresh Chandra Lagalwar, Mr. Amir Chand Mangalick, Dr. V. Premanand, Dr. Kamal Kumar Sahgal, Dr. Mrs. Kumud Sane, Dr. Shashikant Sane, Dr. Krishna Mohan Saxena and Dr. Mrs. Kusum Saxena. The first formal meeting of the Board of Trustees took place on December 12th, 1979. All these original members of the Board of Trustees remained consistent supporters and were duly recognized 25 years later in February 2004.