Covenant Lutheran Church - Randall Valley
Covenant Lutheran Church was built in 1905. I remember the long hill down into the valley. One day when we were visiting one of the homes, one of the young ladies took us kids out to their lawn. In those days the lawn wasn’t mowed short like today and she taught us how to find 4 leaf clovers.
The school building in the photo was the Randall School District No. 2. It was located on the very southwest corner of the kSW1/4 of section 23, the Adrian Nyquist homestead. It was sometimes called the Nyquist school.
The Randall Valley Covenant Church is located a few feet to the east of the schoolhouse. In 1899-1900 they had a 3 month term. The length of the school term increased later – 6 months in 1902, 7 months in 1914, 8 months in 1920 and 9 month years later. The new school house was built in 1910 with an addition to the building in 1916 with 44 students. The teacher hung signs around the school room “Speak English” because most of the students only spoke Swedish. Students had an overnight trip to Fairfax, SD for their 8th grade exams and attended high school in Fairfax. The last year classes were held in the school was 1955 with four students. The next year, 1956, the students went to Pickstown for classes.
The Randall Valley Covenant Church was organized in 1899. The first meetings were held in the homes of the pioneers. The building was erected in 1905. Adrian Nyquist gave land upon which to build the church as well as part of the cemetery land. The Randall Valley people were musical and developed a 4 part choir with guitar as their instrument source.
Source: page 212 “Saga of the Missouri River Reveille” by Adeline Gnirk -- Contributed by Joe Thurstenson, volunteer historian
