The first Mennonite Brethren congregation in South Dakota was founded 17 May 1877 by Cornelius Guenther and his brother-in-law David Funk. Six months later new leaders were elected. Isaac Loewen and Heinrich Adrian, who reported on the early congregation in The Mennonite Brotherhood in Russia, 1789-1910. Martha Becker'sTranslation.

"Mennonites began to arrive in southern Dakota sixteen years before the territory was admitted into the Union in 1889. The great bulk of the immigrants arriving from Russia in the 1870's and 1880's settled in Turner and Hutchinson counties.

"Among the settlers that came to Turner County were several M. B. families who began to meet in homes for fellowship as early as 1876. The congregation was organized in 1878 with Heinrich Adrian as leading Minister (until he moved to Kansas in 1904).

"The congregation consisted of groups scattered over a wide area. Bruderfeld, near Parker, was the main station. More than any other M. B. church, it appears, this congregation has suffered from the inroads of Seventh-Day Adventism. After a short period of growth and prosperity, 31 members left and joined the Adventists because of internal tensions. The church kept on and was growing and then in 1886 more than half of its membership, 79 in number, left and joined the Adventists. The congregation survived but its center shifted further west to Silver Lake." The Silver Lake MB Church disbanded about 2004.

From A Tale of three Cities: Marion Dolton Monroe