Lac qui Parle Mission

Lac qui Parle Mission. . “Considering how different all their thoughts are from ours and how unlike to everything which they have ever seen or heard would be the whole way of salvation, it is not to be expected that we could make them understand or believe much of what we would wish to tell them even if we understood their language till we have learned their manner of thinking and they have been convinced by our manner of living among them that we are their friends and speak the truth." - Thomas S. Williamson, Lac qui parle May 16, 1836 , The Lac qui Parle Mission opened in 1835, a time when Dakota people remained in control of the region and their lives. The missionaries and their families were guests in a land that did not belong to them. The station closed in 1854, the year after the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux was ratified, leaving Dakota people a fragment of their homelands as a reservation within the United States. , This exhibit was begun in 2013-14 by students in a public history course at Gustavus Adolphus College, St. Peter, in collaboration with the Nicollet County Historical Society. It was finished in 2016 by Carrie Reber Zeman in conjunction with the Minnesota Historical Society. Made possible by the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund through the vote of Minnesotans on November 4, 2008. , Other Places, Other Stories , The Lac qui parle is part of a larger story. We encourage you to visit other places like the Lac qui parle Historical Society, the Chippewa County Historical Society, the Upper and Lower Sioux Agency Historic Sites, Historic Fort Snelling, Traverse des Sioux, the Renville County Historical Society, and the Pond-Dakota Mission Park. , Caption: Artist's conception of the original church at Lac qui parle by Wyn Greene, 1964.