First Presbyterian Church at Flandreau, SD - Country Churches on Waymarking.com

The story of this church goes back 200 years in Minnesota territory where the ancestors of the founders first lived for the first contact with the white explorers and missionaries. At that time the Dakota Indians were woodland and lake people. Not to be confused with their close relatives the Lakota, which were prairie dwellers. Over the passing of years, the encroachment of white settlers and Minnesota passed into statehood, things were getting intolerable for the Dakota. Numerous treaties were signed and not followed through with. Even by 1862, most of the Indians were still angry with the British because following the War of 1812, the British made their peace with the United States and left the Dakota, who had sided with the British, to make “your own peace” with the United States. So, migration to Canada was not a viable option for them yet.
By the summer and fall of 1862, the Dakota were restricted to strips of land along the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers. Many had converted to Christianity by then and many had not. That fall produced very little for crops, whether Indian or white, because of drought. The storehouses, however, were full of food and supplies promised the Dakota as part of the annuities agreed on in 1858 for ceded lands. But, for a technicality, the Indian agent would not release any food to the starving indian families. Things came to head, troop levels were low in the area because of the Civil War, and it was decided that now was good as any to chase out the settlers and reclaim the land loved and lived on for centuries.
The Uprising of 1862 was squelched within a few months. Many Dakota fled to the prairies to join their cousins the Lakota, many fled to Canada and the rest were rounded up and imprisoned at Ft. Snelling. Most of those captured remained behind because they felt save because during the raids up and down the Minnesota River Valley, they were helping the white captives get released or escape and did not participate as combatants. Over the course of a week, 1,700 ‘combatants’ were tried and sentenced. Three hundred and three were sentenced to hang, but President Lincoln reduced that number to 38. The largest mass execution in U.S. history occurred on December 26, 1862 in Mankato Minnesota.
When the ice broke on the Mississippi in the spring, the remaining men were sent to Davenport Iowa as prisoners and the women, children and old men were sent to Ft. Thompson on Crow Creek. Two years later, the men were pardoned and were reunited with their families (who came down from Ft. Thompson) at Santee, Nebraska. Through all of this, Missionaries Stephen Riggs and John Williamson and others, stood by their Dakota friends and were forceful advocates for the Dakota Indians.
Living conditions at Santee were not much better than prison or fort life. Tensions were also building between the ‘cut hairs’ (those converted to Christianity) and the traditional Indians. In March 1869, 21 families of the Pilgrim Church of Niobrara set out into Dakota Territory to make use of the new Homestead Act. There are a number of South Dakota historical makers that chronicle this and other migrations out of the Santee Reservation. ‘Wakpa Ipaksan’ was the Indian name for the Flandreau area meaning ‘bend in the river’. This spot was very well known to the Dakota because it was an easy place to cross the river and well wooded. They settled the along the Big Sioux River from Brookings county through Moody County to the Trent and Dell Rapids area.
On October 3, 1869, they organized the First Presbyterian Church in a log house near the river. In 1871, the Dakota congregation built a Meeting House closer to town were two stores had been established. This building served as meeting house, church and day school for the Indian and white community. By 1873, it was clear that they needed a bigger church and besides, the Meeting House had become a place where out-of-town visitors tied off their teams of horses, making conditions unpleasant on hot South Dakota days. They were able to sell the Meeting House as a day school to the U.S. Government for $1,000 which was then used to begin the purchase of material for the new church. They built this one away from town, at its current location and it has been in continuous use ever since.
In 2002-2003 the church was restored to its original appearance (except for the wheel chair ramp) under a grant by Gov. Bill Janklow using prison labor from the penitentiary in Sioux Falls.

Church Name: First Presbyterian Church Church In Use (even only just occassionally): yes Date Church Built: 1873 Rate this church.:

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Date Logged Log User Rating   09/16/2018 EJKPBR visited it 05/04/2014 leopold22 visited it 12/03/2011 dbrockhouse visited it 04/08/2007 MNSearchers visited it

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