Q&A: Hutterites in South Dakota

A glance contained in the state’s second-oldest colony, the historical past of Hutterites and their communal methods of dwelling.

Elena Tittel

News Intern
Hometown: Ridgefield, Conn.
Schools: Skidmore College; Northwestern University
Internship: 2026 Scripps Howard Fund and Institute for Nonprofit News Nonprofit Newsroom Internship
[email protected]

WOLF CREEK COLONY, S.D. – South Dakota has greater than 60 Hutterite colonies with greater than 7,000 members, making it the state with the biggest Hutterite inhabitants.

Here are particulars of their life-style gleaned from interviews and a daylong tour of Wolf Creek, the second-oldest colony in South Dakota, positioned 10 miles west of Freeman.

Who are the Hutterites?

Hutterites are a department of the Anabaptist movement that passed off in the course of the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation.

Marnette Hofer, govt director and archivist at Heritage Hall Museum and Archives in Freeman, mentioned Hutterites migrated to North America within the 1870s from central and japanese Europe to flee spiritual persecution.

The Hutterian Brethren, generally known as Hutterites, got here to South Dakota in 1874 and formed three groups: the Schmiedeleut (Bon Homme Colony, based 1874), the Dariusleut (Wolfcreek Colony, based 1875) and the Leherleut (Elm Spring Colony, based 1877).

Where are Hutterites positioned in South Dakota?

South Dakota has the best Hutterite inhabitants of any state within the U.S, a truth transient printed by News Watch reported. Currently, there are greater than 60 colonies with a inhabitants of over 7,000 unfold throughout the japanese a part of the state.

What precisely is a Hutterite colony?

Of the roughly 1,200 Hutterites who arrived in North America, one-third determined to stay communally. Hofer mentioned the opposite two-thirds that arrived turned Prairieleuts and rejected communal dwelling, as a substitute selecting to stay on particular person homesteads and personal household farms.

Norman Hofer, a retired farmer dwelling in Freeman and Hutterite knowledgeable, mentioned even after a number of hundred years, these dwelling on colonies nonetheless apply a communal life-style.

He has distant relations who lived on Hutterite colonies and mentioned communal dwelling signifies that there isn’t a non-public possession. Instead, the group owns every thing, which means colony members don’t have to fret about monetary burdens resembling insurance coverage, for instance.

“You are provided for your entire life because you don’t own anything and are taken care of from the time you are born to the day you die,” Norman Hofer mentioned.

What occurs if a colony will get too huge?

Marnette Hofer mentioned colonies can have upwards of 150 adults and kids. If a colony will get too huge, it splits off right into a daughter colony.

How are Hutterites completely different from the Amish?

Rod Janzen, a professor at Fresno Pacific University who has beforehand studied Hutterites, mentioned they’re separate from the Amish. Whereas Hutterites have extra German ancestry, Amish are inclined to have extra Swiss ancestry. 

Janzen mentioned that the Amish arrived first and settled into extra populated areas resembling Pennsylvania. Hutterites, however, don’t stay in closely populated areas and settled all through the Midwest. 

Additionally, Hutterites are inclined to embrace fashionable know-how greater than the Amish do. Many Hutterites have telephones, and a few even use social media, based on the tour information.

What faith do Hutterites observe?

Hutterites are Anabaptists – a department of Christianity. According to the Hutterian Brethren’s official web site, frequent beliefs amongst Hutterites embody separation of church and state and pacifism.

What largely distinguishes anabaptists from another Christians are their views on toddler baptism. Historically, Catholics and lots of Protestants apply toddler baptism, believing it removes authentic sin and makes them a baby of God early on.

Anabaptists, like many different church denominations, as a substitute imagine baptism must be a aware selection somebody makes to dedicate their lives to Jesus, based on the tour information at Wolf Creek Colony.

How is faith integrated into the Hutterite life-style?

George Stahl, the minister of Spring Valley Colony positioned outdoors of Wessington Springs, mentioned faith performs a big function in Hutterite communities.

“We follow the New Testament, but we go one step further by having all things in common,” he mentioned.

Stahl mentioned this perception comes from Act 2:44 of the New Testament that claims all believers have been collectively and had every thing in frequent.

The tour information at Wolf Creek mentioned weekday companies are held from 6-6:30 p.m. every single day and Sunday companies are held from 9:30-9:45 a.m. Children ages 5 to fifteen additionally attend Sunday college from 2-3 p.m.

How does marriage work inside Hutterite colonies?

Hutterites can’t marry till they’re baptized. At Wolf Creek, persons are usually baptized between the ages of 18 to 25, the tour information mentioned.

If the bride’s fiancé lives on one other colony, she strikes to his colony as soon as they’re married.

What do Hutterite weddings seem like?

According to at least one mother on Wolf Creek Colony, who requested anonymity for privateness causes, one marriage ceremony custom is that the bride sews her personal attire and the groom’s shirt. Sewing clothes is one accountability of girls on colonies, she mentioned. When ladies get married, they get a brand new stitching machine.

Two of her ladies are getting married quickly, she mentioned. Both of them made sequined attire that solely took them a few week – a document period of time.

“I can’t wait to get a new sewing machine,” one in all her daughters mentioned, laughing.

At the engagement occasion – referred to as an “Aufred Hulba” – the groom visits the bride’s colony to publicly ask the bride’s dad and mom for her hand in marriage. The marriage ceremony itself, nonetheless, at all times takes place on the groom’s colony. Only people who find themselves baptized are allowed to attend, aside from fast relations.

Do Hutterites go to high school?

Yes. Hutterite faculties are accredited public faculties in South Dakota, based on the South Dakota Board of Education’s enrollment census. Teachers are employed from the closest native college district.

Wolf Creek Colony, for instance, is affiliated with the Freeman Public School system.

The tour information mentioned preschool on Wolf Creek is for kids ages 2-1/2 by way of 5 and takes place in the course of the summer season.

Hutterites don’t go to high school previous eighth grade as a result of they’re thought of adults at age 15, she mentioned.

What languages do Hutterites study and communicate?

Hutterites communicate Hutterisch, a German dialect, based on Norman Hofer. They additionally study normal German and English in class.

Do Hutterites work?

According to the tour information, Hutterites begin working as soon as they end education.

Roles on colonies are conventional. Women are in control of stitching garments, cooking and cleansing, whereas males are in control of duties requiring bodily labor.

May Hutterites purchase issues?

Depending on the colony, they might. But Hutterites don’t have giant allowances as a result of income is shared collectively and never saved individually.

Stahl mentioned typically they order denims, quite than stitching them.

What do meals seem like on Hutterite colonies?

Hutterites have three communal meals: breakfast, dinner (lunch) and supper. Adults sit in a single room to eat and kids sit in one other.

Every week at Wolf Creek, there are two cooks who’re ladies ages 17 to 45. One serves as a sizzling prepare dinner, and the opposite serves as a chilly prepare dinner. Hot cooks put together heat dishes resembling meats and soups, whereas chilly cooks put together chilly aspect dishes resembling greens and backyard produce.

Week-to-week, dinners usually are the identical however produce can fluctuate relying on the season. For instance, Tuesdays are usually turkey cutlets, Wednesdays are usually pork, Thursdays are usually beef and Fridays are usually hen. Suppers, however, are extra variable.

The tour information mentioned her favourite meal for dinner is turkey cutlets with a aspect of contemporary beets and potatoes.

Where do they retailer their meals?

Hutterites have many locations to retailer their meals. Some meals will get saved in bulk to final them by way of the winter. For instance, the tour information mentioned they at the moment have 500 quarts of inexperienced string beans. By the top of the summer season, they’ll have 600 quarts.

Do Hutterites develop their very own meals?

Typically, sure. Most produce is raised on website and maintained by colony members in control of gardening. Crops fluctuate relying on the season.

Do Hutterites increase livestock?

Hutterites carry livestock, however not each colony raises the identical livestock. At Wolf Creek Colony, for instance, they increase geese and chickens.

They used to have turkeys, however after an enormous flood in 2019, they not have any. Other colonies resembling Spring Valley Colony have huge turkey barns and provide poultry to firms and native farms. Many colonies are giant hog and beef producers, too.

What farming methods do Hutterites use?

Norman Hofer mentioned that Hutterites dwelling on Wolf Creek have up-to-date farming gear and know-how, resembling the most recent farm vans with GPS methods.

Farming know-how can fluctuate from colony-to-colony, however Hutterites traditionally have embraced newer farming gear.

How do Hutterites contribute to South Dakota’s economic system?

Hutterites actively contribute to South Dakota’s agricultural and manufacturing industries.

Jerome Decker, director of operations at WC Processors in Freeman, mentioned the corporate started about 10 years in the past as a technique to improve productiveness and mitigate costliness.

Hutterites’ agricultural contributions in South Dakota

Making up 10% of the farming inhabitants, the state’s colonies play a big function within the state’s agricultural and manufacturing industries.

“What we decided to do was do a small scale, solid brushing facility, and there was a lot of trial and error involved in getting just the right process that worked for us, and have the quality product that we actually needed, could use and utilize,” Decker mentioned.

Now, they supply numerous feed meal to native farmers, he mentioned.

Are you allowed to go away the colony for good?

Yes. But it isn’t at all times seemed properly upon, based on Norman Hofer.

Can anybody be part of a colony?

According to the official Hutterian Brethren web site, outsiders can technically be part of a colony. However, that is fairly uncommon.

South Dakota News Watch is an impartial nonprofit. Read, subscribe without cost and donate at sdnewswatch.org. Elena Tittel’s internship was funded with help from the Nonprofit Newsroom Internship Program created by The Scripps Howard Fund and the Institute for Nonprofit News. Contact: [email protected].