This church is, or at least was, located northwest of Parmalee SD in what is now known as the Old He Dog Community. It was built (I don't know when) as a mission church by the St. Francis Mission. A priest would come there to say Sunday Mass. The Indian people would come with their teams and wagons. After mass they would sometimes cook on open fires, then spend most of the afternoon there.
I believe at one time there was a government school there. There is still a spring and an old cistern there where they may have got their water. Now there is a new He Dog School some miles farther to the east. It is now part of the Todd County School System.
This picture was taken in May of 1981. The church was no longer in use but it was still clean and in good shape, perhaps is may have still been used on occasions. Although this is 30 miles from our home, my brother and I had a summer pasture just across the road from it. We called this the Comes From War Pasture. We leased it from the two adopted daughters of Frank Comes From War. We never knew him, but his home was near this church. He was said to have had cattle and a milk cow, some old hay machinery was still setting there. Frank Comes From War was a World War I veteran. Indians did serve in the army during the first world war.
