Lac Qui Parle Mission - Montevideo, Minnesota

Lac Qui Parle Mission - Montevideo, Minnesota

"Lake that Speaks" is what Lac Qui Parle means. The French name was given to the area by Joseph Renville who was an explorer and fur trader in the area in 1826.  His mother was Dakota and his father a Frenchman so he was familiar with the Dakota lifestyle.  He opened a trading post in the village and then invited missionaries to establish their mission there.

For many of the Dakota tribe, the mission was their first intensive contact with Euro-American culture.  Not everything went smoothly as the missionaries tried to convert the Dakota tribe to Christianity and show them their ways to grow crops and bring them around to the culture of the Euro-Americans.  Although the missionaries left the area in 1854 there are some 40 Indian Congregational and Presbyterian congregations in Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota that trace their roots back to the mission in Lac Qui Parle.

There is now a Work Projects Administration building on the site of the original adobe structure.  A walking path and interpretive signs lead visitors through the tiny area where a small group of Protestant missionary families lived.

Inside the chapel, exhibits describe the missionaries and their work, the Dakota people, and Joseph Renville, the man that linked their worlds.  Visitors can ring the church bell, echoing the sound of the original traditionally known as the first church bell in Minnesota.

Location: Northwest of Montevideo, no north on US Hwy 59 for 6 miles then west on Chippewa County HWY 13 for 2.2 miles and turn right at the corner.  The mission will be on your right. 

Hours: 8-8 Daily from the last Sunday in April through Labor Day.  Visitors may tour the site at any time year-round.

Admission: Free

For more information contact the Chippewa County Historical Society, PO Box 303, Montevideo, Minnesota 56265

Phone: 320-269-7636