PHOTO OF THE DAY: NEW TERRITORY
This map from the late 1870s is part of the collection at Heritage Hall Museum & Archives in Freeman and shows the southeastern portion of Dakota Territory not long after German immigrants made the journey from Russia and Ukraine across the Atlantic to New York City, on to Yankton and north to what would become the larger Freeman community. It was the fall of 1874 when the area was settled by European migrants, and the local museum has been commemorating the 150th anniversary of that settlement with a series of programs. The third is schedule for today, Sunday, Aug. 4 starting at 3 p.m. in Pioneer Hall and will feature a panel that includes Dan Flyger, Marnette (Ortman) Hofer, Norman Hofer and S. Roy Kaufman, who will share unique perspectives on different aspects of this story. The program will offer insight into the early experiences of Hutterite, Lutheran, Low German Mennonite, Reformed and Swiss Amish settlers who helped create the larger Freeman community we know today.
A Facebook post by Heritage Hall Museum & Archives notes that the map pictured here “includes Armstrong County, created by the Dakota Territorial Legislature in 1873. It included portions of Charles Mix County and Hutchinson County. But it was short-lived and was never fully organized. In 1879 it was annexed into Hutchinson County.”
