September 18, 2008: Gideon Pond House/Old Oak Grove Dakota Mission Hike (Bloomington)

Join Larry Martin and the hiking group for a hike around the Gideon Pond House/Old Oak Grove Dakota Mission Archaeology site, 401 East 104th Street, Bloomington, and the surrounding area abutting the Minnesota River. The Gideon Pond House is on the site of a Dakota mission, first located here in 1843. In 1834, Samuel William Pond (1808-1891) and Gideon Hollister Pond (1810-1878) came to Fort Snelling from Connecticut as Presbyterian missionaries to the Indians. The Dakota of the prior Lake Harriet mission moved here, about six miles above Fort Snelling on the north side of the Minnesota, because they felt that they were too accessible to the enemy Ojibwe at the Lake Harriet/Lake Calhoun mission site. In the summer of 1843, the Pond families moved into the large log house that Gideon Pond built near the Indian camp here. After the Dakota were moved to a reservation farther up the Minnesota Valley in 1852, Gideon Pond bought the land on which the mission stood and became a farmer. In 1856, he built the large brick house currently on the site. Samuel Pond continued as a missionary, moving first to Lac Qui Parle, Minnesota, and then Shakopee, Minnesota. George and Martha Pond (1918-1967), descendants of Gideon Pond, continued living in the house until the 1960's. The site of the hike is also hosting the River Rendezvous event, a living history festival, with reenactors camping on the grounds on the night of the hike. The hike will proceed west along the adjoining Minnesota River bottom land, on established (but not paved) walking paths/mountain biking trails.

If driving: From Cedar Avenue/Highway 77, take the Old Shakopee Road exit. Proceed southwest on Old Shakopee Road/ East 98th Street to Portland Avenue South. Turn south (left) on Portland Avenue South and proceed for a couple of blocks south to East 104th Street and turn west (right ) on East 104th Street. The park is on 104th Street, between Clinton Avenue South and Stevens Avenue South, just across the street from the Gene C. Kelly Playing Fields. Because of the limited parking spaces available in the park, park in the parking lot for Holy Emmanuel Lutheran Church, just west of the park.

If coming by public transit: Take Metro Transit route(s): 553. The closest bus service point appears to be along 104th Street. Applicable Metro Transit Map

Bus Schedule information

Interested hikers will reassemble for dessert or dinner after the hike at a nearby restaurant (TGIFridays, 2201 Killebrew Drive, Bloomington.)

Map to the hike start point: 401 E 104th St
Bloomington, MN 55420-5416

Gideon Pond House archaeology

History of Minnesota Valley settlement

Pond House Architectural Drawings

Pond House Photographs

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This webpage was last updated on August 25, 2008.