The site is significant within the history of the Minnesota River valley, the Dakota tribe, and Bloomington.

The Ponds received permission in 1834 from Major Lawrence Taliaferro, the Indian agent at Fort Snelling, to establish a mission school near Bde Maka Ska (Lake Calhoun), where a band of Dakota spent their summers.

[4] The area served as a mission between 1843 and 1852, when the Dakota were sent to a reservation further up the Minnesota River as a result of the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux.

[6] Later, Pond started the Oak Grove Presbyterian Church, which was originally located on land which is now the Bloomington Cemetery.

[4] The home, located at 401 East 104th Street in Bloomington, is constructed of red brick and features chimneys serving each room.