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Parks and Recreation functions:
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NOTE: The following content and images CANNOT be reproduced without the written consent of the City of Bloomington. Dakota missions on the Minnesota frontier In the 1830s and 1840s Christian missionaries came into Indian Country, which included Bloomington, with the purpose of converting Dakota Indians to Christian beliefs and white person's ways. This included farming, owning property, receiving a formal education and establishing a money-based economy. Missions established to serve the Dakota were located in proximity to rivers or lakes by permanent Native American sites. The success of the missionaries in converting Dakota Indians to Christianity was modest until the 1862 U.S.-Dakota war confirmed the authority of the United States government over the land and lives of Indian people, including the prohibition of practicing Native American religions until the 1970s. Indian people today practice a variety of spiritual beliefs and religions.
Dakota Missions of the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions (ABCFM) in MinnesotaThe Dakota villages before the 1851 Treaties were located east of New Ulm on the lower Minnesota and upper Mississippi River Valleys. After the 1851 Treaties, the Dakota were relocated to the upper and middle Minnesota River. The Dakota missions on the map date from 1834 to 1862. Starting at the western edge of the Minnesota River and traveling east, the Dakota missions were:
The map above also shows Fort Snelling, Fort Ridgely, the Upper (Yellow Medicine) and Lower (Redwood) Sioux Agencies.  Pond brothers cabin at Lake Calhoun, 1855.
Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society.
Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet Missions (Minneapolis)1834-1840 Samuel and Gideon Pond taught Euro-American farming to Chief Cloud Man's village. They also devised a Dakota alphabet and began translating into a written Dakota language so they could teach the Indians how to read the Bible. Under continual threats of attack from the Ojibwe (Anishinabe), Cloud Man moved his village to the Minnesota River Valley in 1839.  Replica of Lac Qui Parle
Mission Church, ca. 1945. Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society.
The Lac qui Parle Mission (near Montevideo)1835-1854
Dr. Thomas S. Williamson began this mission to the Dakota people at the invitation of Joseph
Renville, a Métis The Oak Grove Mission (Bloomington)1843-1853 Gideon and Samuel Pond established this mission near Cloud Man's village in the Minnesota River Valley. After the 1851 Treaty of Mendota, most of the Dakota were removed from this area. Two years later Gideon dissolved the mission and in 1855 founded Oak Grove Presbyterian Church with the help of newly arrived white settlers.  Samuel Pond Mission
House in Shakopee, ca. 1880. Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society.
The Prairieville Mission (Shakopee)1847-1853 At the invitation of Chief Shakpe, Samuel Pond moved to Shakpe's village, 10 miles up the Minnesota River, where he began a mission and school. With the removal of the Dakota in 1853 to the Lower Sioux Agency, Samuel closed the mission and founded First Presbyterian Church of Shakopee with the help of newly arrived white settlers. The Traverse des Sioux Mission (near St. Peter)1843-1853 Stephen R. Riggs began this mission station aided by Alexander Huggins and Robert Hopkins. It was here that Stephen R. Riggs and Dr. Williamson were interpreters at the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux in 1851. In this treaty, the Sisseton and Wahpeton Dakota gave up their land in southern and western Minnesota. They were removed in 1853 to a narrow strip of land around the Upper Sioux Agency. The mission was closed in 1853.  Little Crow's Village on the Mississippi (showing Kaposia Mission on left), ca. 1846, by Seth Eastman. Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society. The Kaposia Mission (South St. Paul)1846-1852 Dr. Williamson accepted an invitation from Chief Little Crow to build a mission at his village on the Mississippi River near present-day South St. Paul, where he was joined by his sister Jane. In 1852 the mission was closed due to the removal of the Indians to a strip of land along the Minnesota River in the area of the Lower Sioux Agency.  Red Wing's Village 70
miles below the Falls of St. Anthony. Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society.
The Red Wing Mission (Red Wing)1848-1854 This mission to Chief Wacouta's village, located at Barn Bluff, was begun in 1848 by John F. Aiton, assisted by Joseph W. Hancock. In 1853 Chief Wacouta's band was moved to the area around the Lower Sioux Agency and the mission was closed.  Yellow Medicine Mission Williamson Home at Yellow Medicine, August 17, 1862. Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society. The Pajutazee Mission (near Granite Falls)1852-1862 In 1852 Dr. Williamson and his sister Jane rejoined some of the Sisseton and Wahpeton Dakota from the Lac qui Parle area to form the Pajutazee (Dakota name meaning Yellow Medicine) Mission near the Upper Sioux Agency. He was forced to leave there at the outbreak of the Dakota War in 1862. Many of his converts there were leading members of the farmer-Indian faction.  Hazelwood Mission
station of Reverend Stephen R. Riggs, Yellow Medicine County. Courtesy Minnesota Historical
Society.
The Hazelwood Mission (near Granite Falls)1854-1862 Founded by Stephen R. Riggs, this mission was located near the Upper Sioux Agency. The mission included a school and numerous Christian Dakota farming families who broke with the communal tribal structures and formed a self-governing organization called the Hazelwood Republic. The Zoar Mission (near Morton)1860-1862 John P. Williamson, son of Dr. Thomas S. Williamson, founded this mission, which was located near the Lower Sioux Agency. Most of its members had been affiliated with the mission at Kaposia. The mission was temporarily closed at the outbreak of the U.S. Dakota War of 1862 and resumed operation in November 1862. Shortly thereafter, its members were marched under armed guards to the Fort Snelling Dakota Internment Camp. For more information, contact:
Mark Morrison, Recreation Supervisor
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