First Dwelling in Minneapolis — The Pond Brothers
Near Minneapolis St Paul, Minnesota
On the hill above this spot, in June of eighteen thirty-four, brothers Samuel W. and Gideon H. Pond erected the first dwelling in what would become Minneapolis.
The Ponds were self-trained missionaries who had traveled from Connecticut to live among the Dakota people at Lake Calhoun, which the Dakota called Bde Maka Ska. Without formal seminary training or church sponsorship, they simply showed up and began learning the Dakota language. The brothers helped devise a written alphabet for the Dakota language and began a Dakota dictionary.
Their simple log cabin, built more than a decade before Minneapolis formally existed, marked the beginning of permanent American settlement on this stretch of the Mississippi. A plaque was dedicated here by the Native Sons of Minnesota on May thirtieth, nineteen oh eight.
