Episcopal church burns to the ground

PARMELEE – The Holy Innocents Episcopal church burned to the ground over the weekend, devastating many local families who were baptized, married and received holy sacraments there. 

“We are confident it was not an electrical fire, because although electricity was attached someone would have had to be inside to turn it on to create a short to start a fire,” stated Mother Lauren Stanley of the Rosebud Episcopal Mission. “At the moment we are leaning toward arson.”

The Holy Innocents Church was established in 1890 when the area was known as Wososo Wakpa (or Cut Meat Farm Station). The area was a ration station for the Sicangu people who settled in the Upper Cut Meat, Lower Cut Meat, He Dog, Salt Camp and Ironwood areas. The town of Parmelee was named after a man who built a grocery store in the 1920s.

A small group of church leaders and community residents attended an abbreviated Eucharist service offered by Mother Lauren and Senior Catechist Erroll Geboe on Sunday. Another service will be offered on Saturday, November 4, 2023 at 10am at the guild hall. Everyone is invited to attend.

Prairie Rose DuBray-Chapin offered some history on the church in a Facebook post. “When the Episcopalians came, our great grandmother Crow gave this land for the church to be built and a cemetery to be established because her baby needed somewhere to be buried.”

The Parmelee Volunteer Fire Department, along with other emergency personnel, responded to the Saturday morning fire. The area is considered a crime scene and the fire is being investigated by the Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s Criminal Investigators. There were no injuries in the fire. The church is a total loss, but was fully insured. The Fire Marshall was expected to visit the site this week.

The church was once located east of the gravel road. But when the basement began deteriorating, the late Olive Pretty Bird coordinated the project to move the church onto a new foundation. A guild hall was also built west of the church.

“It will be up to this community to decide about rebuilding and how,” stated Mother Lauren. “For seven generations Holy Innocents has stood on this hill and we’re going to have it for seven more because that’s who we are.”

Anyone with any information regarding the church fire in Parmelee is encouraged to contact the Rosebud Sioux Tribe Dispatch at 605-856-2282.