Gideon H. Pond House

Infobox_nrhp | name =Gideon H. Pond House
nrhp_type =

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caption =
location= 401 E. 104th St.
Bloomington, Minnesota
area =
built =1856
architecture= Federal architecture
added = July 16, 1970
governing_body = City of Bloomington
refnum=70000296 cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2007-01-23|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]

The Gideon H. Pond House is a historic house in Bloomington, Minnesota. It is part of the Pond-Dakota Mission Park, which also includes the Oak Grove Mission site (1843–1852), a cemetery, and the remains of the Pond family farm and orchards. The site is significant within the history of the Minnesota River valley, the Dakota tribe, and Bloomington.cite web|url=http://www.ci.bloomington.mn.us/main_top/2_facilities/rec_facility/pond/pondhous.htm|title=Signature Sites: Pond-Dakota Mission Park and Gideon Pond House|publisher=City of Bloomington, Minnesota|accessdate=2007-05-17] The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Gideon Pond and his brother Samuel came to Minnesota with a mission to teach Christianity to the Indians and to teach them agriculture. The Ponds received permission in 1834 from Major Lawrence Taliaferro, the Indian agent at Fort Snelling, to establish a mission school near Lake Calhoun, where a band of Dakota spent their summers.cite web|url=http://www.mpls.lib.mn.us/history/rs1.asp|title=A History of Minneapolis: Religion|publisher=Minneapolis Public Library|accessdate=2007-05-17] Pond started work on writing a Dakota language dictionary. After a war broke out between the Dakota and the Ojibwa in 1839, the band of Dakota moved to a village near the Minnesota River, and Gideon Pond moved with them. He established a mission along the river bluffs.cite web|url=http://www.bloomington.k12.mn.us/departments/technology/ConTech/BLOOMING/BloomingtonHistory.htm
title=Bloomington History Packet|publisher=Bloomington Public Schools|accessdate=2007-05-17] The area served as a mission between 1843 and 1852, when the Dakota were sent to a reservation further up the Minnesota River as a result of the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux. At that point, Pond bought this land and became a farmer.cite web
url=http://www.fromsitetostory.org/tcm/21he0244gideonpondhouse/21he0244gideonpondhouse.asp
title=From Site to Story: Gideon Pond House
accessdate=2007-05-17] He also served as a member of Minnesota territorial House of Representatives 7th District, 1849–1850. [cite web| title = Index to Politicians: Pomerville to Poo| publisher =The Political Graveyard| url =http://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/ponce-ponder.html| accessdate = 2007-05-22] Later, Pond started the Oak Grove Presbyterian Church, which was originally located on land which is now the Bloomington Cemetery. The church later moved its building to the corner of Penn Avenue and Old Shakopee Road.

The home, located at 401 104th Street East in Bloomington, is constructed of red brick and features chimneys serving each room. The home was occupied by Gideon and his wife Sarah, and is now open to the public on a limited basis. [cite web| title = 138.664, Minnesota Statutes 2006| publisher =Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes| url =http://www.revisor.leg.state.mn.us/bin/getpub.php?pubtype=STAT_CHAP_SEC&year=2006&section=138.664| accessdate = 2007-05-22]

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