Rosebud Indian Reservation, St. Francis, South Dakota. County/parish: Todd.
Added to the National Register of Historic Places June 20, 1975. NRIS 75001723.
12 contributing buildings. 1 contributing site.
St. Francis Mission is a Roman Catholic mission complex on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in St. Francis, South Dakota, in territory of the Lakota (Sioux) Native Americans. The mission was founded in 1886 by priests of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits), who were welcomed by Bishop Martin Marty of the Diocese of Saint Cloud, Minnesota, which extended to this territory at the time. The Jesuit order soon developed a large complex to serve the Lakota at this reservation. Most of the buildings were destroyed by a fire in 1916, but many were soon rebuilt.
Today the mission complex includes 26 buildings, the most prominent of which are St. Charles Borromeo Church and the 1916 Drexel Hall. The latter is a multi-function structure providing classrooms, meeting spaces, and residential spaces. The complex also includes one of two known copies of a statue of Native American saint, Kateri Tekakwitha, by Joseph-Émile Brunet. The complex was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.
(read more...)National Park Service documentation: https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93205678