The oldest surviving building in Bloomington, a brick house built in 1851 by Gideon Pond, one of the first missionaries to the Dakota people. The house is a National Historic Landmark and is managed as a historic site by the City of Bloomington. Seasonal tours give access to the interior, which is preserved much as it appeared in the mid-19th century. The site provides an honest look at the early history of European settlement in Minnesota, including Pond's complicated legacy as both a Dakota-language scholar and a missionary who worked to change Dakota culture.
Gideon H. Pond House
1850s missionary homestead, the oldest surviving building in Bloomington
A story
Gideon Pond arrived in Minnesota in 1834 as a missionary to the Dakota people, and with his brother Samuel spent years learning the Dakota language. Together they produced some of the first written materials in Dakota, including religious texts and the first Dakota-English dictionary. The house Gideon built in 1851 is the oldest surviving structure in Bloomington and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.