(Continued from page 6)

territorial Capitol, a small two-story building. Ward raised money in the East and a church was built in 1870. The congregation grew to 307 by 1883.
• One of Ward's missions was promoting Christian education. He started a private school, which became the Yankton Academy in 1872. It eventually became the first public high school in South Dakota.
• The minister organized and became the first president of Yankton College, the first college in Dakota Territory, in 1881. The first graduating class consisted of one person. In the commencement address, Ward hailed the graduate as "the first of a thousand to come." Rhodes scholars, educators, lawyers, doctors, musicians, artists and athletes emerged from Yankton College before it closed in 1984.
• With Territorial Gov. William Howard, Ward assisted in establishing in Yankton what was then called the Dakota Asylum for the Insane. Ward served as secretary of a government commission that met leaders of American Indian tribes on the upper Missouri plains region and tried to establish friendly relations between them and the government.
• In 1879, Ward and several other prominent Yankton residents were invited to Thanksgiving dinner in Yankton at the home of Ward's brother-in-law, the Rev.

(Continued on page 8)