Gibbs Museum of Pioneer and Dakotah Life

Location

Phone: 651-646-8629
Email: info@rchs.com
Website: www.rchs.com/gbbsfm2.htm

The story of the Gibbs Museum begins in 1833 near Batavia, New York. Jane DeBow was taken by a missionary family traveling west to work among the Dakotah around Fort Snelling. In 1835 Jane arrived at Fort Snelling as a child of six, and lived among Cloud Man’s band of Dakotah on the shores of Lake Calhoun in present-day Minneapolis. Jane learned to speak Dakotah and gained an intimate knowledge of the Dakotah way of life. The Dakotah gave her the name, Zitkadan Usa Win (Little Bird That Was Caught).

Jane’s fascinating story is told in the children’s book, ‘Jane Gibbs: Little Bird That Was Caught,’ available from the Ramsey County Historical Society. Later, in Illinois, Jane met and married Heman Gibbs. In 1849, the year Minnesota became a territory, the newlyweds came up the Mississippi River and bought 160 acres, the land on which the Gibbs farm house still stands. At first, Jane and Heman lived in a 10 ft. by 12 ft. dugout sod house. The remains of this ‘soddy’ have been excavated. Visitors to the museum can see this excavation site and a replica sod house. In 1854, Jane and Heman built a larger cabin. With a growing family, additions to the farm house were made in 1867 and 1873. A trail leading from the Lake Calhoun area to the northern rice lakes crossed the Gibbs farm.

Jane renewed her friendship with the local Dakotah who would stop to visit her on their way to gather wild rice. Each year Cloud Man’s Dakotah band, sometimes numbering as many as 150, camped on the Gibbs farm to rest and visit Jane. Often they camped for as long as three weeks. Many of these people were Jane’s childhood friends and appreciated Heman and Jane’s hospitality.

As a child Jane experienced the traditional Dakotah way of living. As an adult she watched the changes in their culture and the deterioration of their circumstances that ultimately led to the Dakotah Conflict of 1862.

The Gibbs Museum offers a unique look at the two cultures that Jane knew and their methods of housing, agriculture, and their family structure. The Dakotah lived according to the seasons. In the summer, they lived in bark lodges and planted vegetable gardens. In the fall, winter, and spring, they moved about as they hunted, fished, gathered wild rice, trapped, and tapped trees for syrup.

Today visitors can tour the Gibbs family farm house. The Dakotah style tipi and replica bark lodge allow visitors to explore the traditional lifeways of the Dakotah. Visitors can observe a native prairie, a Dakotah medicine garden, and traditional Dakotah and pioneer crop gardens. Visitors also will find the original white barn built by the Gibbs family in 1910 and the red barn, designed by prominent architect Edwin Lundie. The Stoen School, built in the 1880s, was moved from Chippewa County, Minnesota in 1966. The schoolhouse is furnished with wooden school desks, slate boards, McGuffey’s Readers, a pump organ, and a working school bell.

Restrooms are located in the red barn; family restrooms and diaper changing stations are available

The 2nd story of the house is not accessible to wheelchairs, strollers or wagons, but otherwise the site is fully accessible. However, while strollers and wagons are not banned, they are not recommended for group tours.