Marty Mission

The school Eisenman opened here in 1924 was a Catholic boarding school on the Ihanktonwan (Yankton) reservation, staffed by the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament and from 1935 by the Oblate Sisters he founded. In 1975 it passed to the Yankton Sioux Tribe as Marty Indian School. Between 2003 and 2010 more than 100 former students sued the orders, the Benedictines and the Sioux Falls diocese over sexual abuse by priests and nuns. A 2010 state law let plaintiffs over forty sue only the individual abusers, and in September 2012 the state Supreme Court upheld the dismissals.

What the plaque says

Martin Marty 1834 - 1896 First Abbot of St. Meinrad Arch- abbey. First Bishop of the Dakota Territory, began to visit the Indians in this territory in 1877. He established the first Indian Mis- sion called St. Ann's Mission at Wheeler about 30 miles N. W. of here in 1878. The same year South Dakota was created a State - 1889, he was made the first Bishop of Sioux Falls, S.D. Rev. Sylvester Eisenman 1892 - 1948 With the help of many friends, built St. Paul's Mission, Marty, and with the aid of 3 Blessed Sacrament Sisters he opened it as a School for Indian Education in 1924. In 1935 he established here the Convent for the Oblate Sisters of the Blessed Sacra- ment. He laid down his burden on the Feast of the Exal- tation of the Holy Cross September 14, 1948. Visitors are Welcome.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Fort Randall — 10 mi
  The ruined stone chapel of an 1856 Missouri River post below Fort Randall Dam, where Sitting Bull and his band were held as prisoners for two years.
• Ponca Tribal Museum and Old Ponca Agency — 26 mi
  The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska's museum, powwow arena, talking trail and bison herd at the old agency near Niobrara, on homeland the nation was forced from in 1877.

More markers nearby

• Yankton, Sioux, Dakota, Ihanktunwan — 5.2 mi
• Commanding Officers Quarters — 7.8 mi
• Fort Randall Map — 7.9 mi
• Fort Randall Chapel — 7.9 mi