Oahe Chapel Preservation Society

In 1874, Rev. Thomas L. Riggs, a Congregationalist minister, and his first wife, Cornelia Foster, established the Oahe Mission to serve the Sioux Indians of central Dakota Territory. The missionaries chose to build on the site of an old Arikara village called Ti Tanke Ohe, later shortened to "Oahe." Then name of the village was eventually given not only to the mission, but also to the dam and lake that now cover the site.

The Oahe Mission was located on the east bank of the Missouri River at Peoria Flats, about five miles upriver from the present location of the chapel, and about 11 miles north of Pierre. In the beginning, a log house was the center of the mission. By 1877, the house had become too small, and the Sioux people agreed to help Rev. Riggs build a chapel. They finished the chapel in September of that year. Like many frontier structures, the chapel was expected to serve a dual purpose. It served as a schoolhouse and the center of religious life. Academic and religious classes were held in the chapel. Starting with an ABC primer, the men, women, and children of the mission all learned to read the Bible first in the Dakota language and later in English. Because of these classes, a number of lay and ordained ministers were able to assist in the mission's work on the Cheyenne River and Standing Rock Reservations.

Europeans joined in Sunday and holiday worship as they settled in the area. Services were originally conducted in the Dakota language, but only English was used by 1931.

In the 1950s, the State of South Dakota gained ownership of the chapel when it became evident that the completion of the Oahe Dam would flood the mission's location. The South Dakota State Historical Society was then placed in charge of the restoration and preservation of the chapel. The chapel moved to a temporary location in 1957, then relocated to its current location on the east end of the Oahe Dam in 1964. The Oahe Chapel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.