The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1430, but the church was not new that year. The first church in Klæbu was likely a stave church and it may have been built during the 13th century.[4][5]
In 1669, the old stave church was in very poor shape with parts of the choir and nave rotting away. That year, the old choir and a part of the nave were completely torn down and rebuilt using log construction. In 1685, the remainder of the old stave church was torn down and rebuilt as a log building in a cruciform design. Thus during the period from 1669-1685, the entire medieval church was torn down and rebuilt with new materials.[4][5]
The log building was torn down in 1789 and a new church was built on the same site from 1789-1790. The new building was a timber-framed church was built in the shape of an elongated octagon. The new building was consecrated in 1790.[4][5]
In 1814, this church served as an election church (Norwegian: valgkirke).[6] Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814 Norwegian Constituent Assembly which wrote the Constitution of Norway. This was Norway's first national elections. Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in Eidsvoll later that year.[6][7]
