Historical Marker · No. 111

Badus - Pioneer Swiss Colony

Erected by Lake County Historical Society and State Highway Commission, 1955

The bronze says only Swiss; the colonists were Romansh, from the canton of Graubünden, whose language descends from the Latin of Roman soldiers and is one of Switzerland's four official tongues. They came out of the Romansh community at Stillwater, Minnesota, and ran Badus as a cooperative under the Ligia Grischa, a compact named for an early form of the Grey League, dissolving it in 1886 once its members were self-sufficient. Lake Badus is named for Piz Badus, a mountain at home. Their St. Ann's church of 1884, on the National Register since 1979, still holds summer services.

What the plaque says

Badus -- Pioneer Swiss Colony 1/2 Mile West - 1/4 Mile South In 1877 a group of Swiss chose a point on the shore of Lake Badus for a colony. In 1878 Joseph Burkler, his family and some single men, arrived. In 1879 the colony was augmented by 11 other families who came by rail to Luverne, Minnesota and thence overland. That fall they built a school, with Theresa Schnell as the first teacher. A colony house was built. Joseph Muggli was the first storekeeper and appointed the first Postmaster of Badus in May 1879. The colony continued as such until 1886. The names of Berther, CaJacob, Cassutt, DeCurtins, Deragisch, DeRungs, Giossi, Rensch, Schnell, Tuor and Wolf are well known in Lake County, their ancestors being of the original colony. Erected 1955 by Lake County Historical Society and State Highway Commission

Where it stands

44.15214, -97.12971 · Directions

Worth the stop nearby

Ingalls Homestead and the De Smet Historic Homes — 25 mi
The quarter section a mile from De Smet that Charles Ingalls filed on in 1880 and proved up in 1886, the house in town he built, and the cottonwoods he planted.

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