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Swan Lake at Christian Camp:

The county register of deeds shows that on December 18th, 1940, Jens and Emma Jensen sold part of their homestead to the South Dakota Baptist Convention. These Baptist worked to build up a campground for their young people and named this facility “Swan Lake Christian Camp” in May of 1942.

During this time, a retired railroad chapel car was brought to the camp. The “Emmanuel” rail car was commissioned in 1893 as part of the American Baptist's efforts to provide ministers and churches to the opening west. As churches were built and the railroads waned in importance, this rail car moved from the steel tracks to a tract of land just west of the present dining hall and north of the current chapel. This rail car served as the worship center at Swan Lake Christian Camp until around 1955 when it was moved again and finally ended up at the Prairie Village near Madison, South Dakota. For more information, you can follow this link - http://www.prairievillage.org/Emmanuel.html.