The Garrison Dam had a considerable impact on the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nations – the Three Affiliated Tribes. In 1947, the coming flood forced them from 94% of their agricultural land. 1,700 Native Americans were forced to relocate.
One organization that had fought the dam was the United Church of Christ, especially church leaders Harold and Eva Case. When the United States first proposed the dam in 1944, the Cases had spent 20 years on the reservation among the Native Americans. Harold wrote letters to over 15,000 churches urging them to have their representatives oppose the dam.
The church did not want to abandon the reservation. About six years after the dam’s completion, UCC members began noticing that the instability caused by the relocation was affecting the tribes’ school systems, feeling the Children were not receiving adequate education. To combat this, the Fort Berthold Council of Congregational Churches voted on this date in 1961 to create a committee to investigate the viability of a boarding home for youth, ultimately recommending a home for six to eight students. Lee Rockwell from the UCC Division of Health and Welfare Services wrote a “working prospectus” for the home. The Chair of the State Conference’s Ft. Berthold Administrative Committee, the Reverend Alva Taylor, went to work to carrying out the plan, buying a home in southern Bismarck, where the home still stands today. Lynn and Midge Gaylor arrived in 1965 to be the first parents and administrators of the home, which became known as Charles Hall Youth Services, named for frontier missionary Charles Hall, who had begun an area boarding school back in the late 1800s. On April 1st, 1966, the home had its first resident, with five residents total in the first year of service.
Charles Hall Youth Services has grown much over the years. They now have three Bismarck resident halls in single-family neighborhoods, housing up to 20 foster children.
Dakota Datebook written by Lucid Thomas
Sources:
http://www.maxfieldbooks.com/UCCinND.html
