Welcome to Pond Dakota Mission Park, the site of the historic Oak Grove Mission and the 1856 Gideon and Agnes Pond House. The Ponds served as missionaries to the Dakota Indians and as farmers and ministers to the community of Bloomington, Minnesota. Gideon and his brother Samuel had their roots in Washington, Connecticut, where young Gideon worked as a carpenter and a farmer, and Samuel as a clothier and teacher. During the "Great Awakening," one of the 19th century spiritual revivals in America, the brothers heard the call to give their lives to God's service. Their journey led them to Minnesota in 1834 where they served as farming instructors and missionaries to Chief Cloud Man's band of Dakota Indians at Lake Calhoun and Lake Harriet in the Minneapolis area. In 1843 the brothers followed Cloud Man to this Minnesota River bluff location where they founded the Oak Grove Mission. Many cultures have called the Minnesota River Valley their home.
We invite you to explore this park throughout the year to learn more about the life and times of Gideon and Samuel Pond, the Dakota people and the missionaries who worked with the Dakota people during the mid-nineteenth century. Step back in time in the 1856 Gideon and Agnes Pond House and see what life was like in early Bloomington.
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