A Chalkrock Church

I learned several new things on Monday. I learned there was once a Lakeport SD. I learned about chalkrock. (No, NOT the chalk rock jay hawk cheer, Sondra!) And I learned how the Czechs settled in South Dakota.

Lakeport SD is 10 miles west of Yankton. It was settled around 1869. Lakeport was located along the Sioux City to Ft. Randall Military Road. The famed General Custer camped there. Other military passed through also, some as early as 1856.

As Czech immigrants settled there, they established a post office, church, school, hotel, community center and other businesses. I am not sure when the community disappeared. It does not exist today. But this does...

The church, located 10 miles west of Yankton along HIghway 50, is the last remaining building of what was once the village of Lakeport. St. John the Baptist Catholic Church was built in 1884— one of a number of buildings erected by Czech immigrants who settled in the Lakeport area in 1869.

For over 125 years, the Lakeport Church has withstood tornadoes, disrepair and even arson.

It’s the little church that refuses to die. The distinctive chalkrock structure — officially known as St. John the Baptist Catholic Church — no longer serves a parish or has regular Mass. But descendants of early members along with other interested persons still celebrate the church’s anniversaries.

The church opened in 1884, serving the German and Czech settlers. The town of Lakeport was located about two miles east of the church.

The parish filled a void for local Catholics. When it came to building the Lakeport Church, early settlers were forced to be creative. The land was platted, and in 1882 they started building. It took them two years to build the church. Since the church was located on a barren, treeless prairie, the church members used chalkrock that was quarried from the riverbank straight south of here.

Lakeport was assigned a priest until 1903. After that, the church’s members eventually joined parishes in Tabor, Lesterville or Yankton. At that time, the Lakeport Church was abandoned and left to Mother Nature. For a time, Henry Adam of Tabor maintained the church and grounds on his own. Even with his care, the church deteriorated over the years. Locals feared the church would be torn down.

Eventually with the help of a South Dakota Historical Society grant, repairs were made to the Lakeport Church. Now, annual masses are held to honor the church, and it continues to be maintained. The annual Masses draw 50 to 150 people. (The building does not have electricity.)

The cemetery at St. John the Baptist Church, started in 1884. Two civil war veterans are interred in the cemetery.

The Church of St. John the Baptist was the first Czech Catholic Church in the Dakota Territory. However this original building, which still exists today in the Vancura Memorial Park in nearby Tabor SD, was replaced with a larger chalkstone church located closer to Lakeport. This is the church we saw today and in my photos posted here.

Now as to how the the Czech people came to settle in southern South Dakota...

It is recorded a scouting party of Czech men from Chicago, Cleveland and LaCrosse traveled by train to Sioux City IA. The group then traveled by wagon and horses for Niobrara as they had heard there were forests and rich farm land for purchase and settlement. They found no forests, only high prices as everything cost a quarter. Most of the party traveled farther west, but again were disappointed. Disillusioned and bitter they planned to return to Chicago when they were met by an engineer from Yankton who told them of the good land in the area. They left for the Dakota Territory that day. A ferry transported the men, 1 family, and the oxen across the Missouri River at Yankton. Some of the party spent a couple of days reviving themselves and their spirits at a brewery in Yankton, where they shared how they would soon be followed by many, many Czech farmers. Townspeople fearing what the scouting party reported, purchased all the available land around the community. As a result of the sudden unavailability of land, the group had to travel eight miles west. They liked what they saw and commenced to settle. The year was 1869. Soon, some of these Czech pioneers and others settled near Lakeport, SD, a small town located on the Yankton–Ft. Randall road. There, near Lakeport on the property of one of the first pioneers, Frank Nedved, they established the first Czech Catholic Church in the Dakota Territory, The Church of St. John the Baptist, built of chalk stone from the nearby Missouri River.

And now you know...the REST of the story.