Heritage Hall Museum & Archives (HHM&A) has sponsored programs this summer that have explored the 150th anniversary of the wave of Germans-from-Russia immigrants who began settling in what is now the larger Freeman community starting in the mid-1870s.

But Freeman, as we know it today, didn’t exist when they arrived. It was only when the railroad arrived in the area in 1879 that small towns were established.
On Sunday afternoon, Sept. 15, Jeremy Waltner, publisher and editor of the Freeman Courier, will explore how the city of Freeman grew from a railroad stop in 1879 to a residential, commercial and educational hub that brought the diverse rural settlements together. The 3:30 p.m. illustrated program, titled “Forming Freeman; From West to East,” will be held at the historical Bethel Mennonite Church that is part of the HHM&A complex.

Waltner has been chronicling the community’s history as a journalist since the 1990s and that gives him a unique perspective.

“Freeman didn’t develop as a city because of some master plan or grand vision, although there were elements of that,” he says. “Rather, it was a series of unforeseen circumstances and how the people rallied around those touchstone moments that set Freeman up for a gradual expansion to the east from its depot-based roots — and ultimately, success.”

Admission to the program includes the opportunity to tour the museum starting at 1 p.m. before the Sunday program. Regular summer hours are Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Fall/winter hours – weekday afternoons from noon to 4 and other times by appointment – run from October through April.

About the museum

Located south of the Freeman Academy campus and on the northern edge of the 40-acre Prairie Arboretum, Heritage Hall Museum & Archives tells the story of Germans-from-Russia immigrants and others who settled in southeastern Dakota Territory in the 1870s. The museum complex includes two large exhibit halls featuring everything from old cars and buggies to Native American artifacts to agricultural equipment to local business history to household items and musical instruments. The archives/library includes more than 10,000 books, maps, periodicals and photos. The complex also includes four historic buildings: a one-room schoolhouse, two early rural churches and a 140-year-old pioneer home.

Heritage Hall Museum & Archives traces its roots back to the winter term of Freeman College in 1911, but today operates as an independent, nonprofit organization.