Watertown Benedictine Sisters Earn South Dakota Hall of Fame Honor for Transforming Harmony Hill Campus
- Steve Jurrens
- 9 hours ago
- 3 min read
Northeast Radio SD News – Watertown, SD - For over a century, the Benedictine Sisters of Mother of God Monastery have served as quiet pioneers of healthcare, education, and ministry across the Dakotas. Now, their visionary efforts to transform their 485-acre Watertown campus into a thriving intergenerational community have earned them the 2026 Act of Excellence Award from the South Dakota Hall of Fame.
The award was presented to the community at a special ceremony held at the Harmony Hill campus, celebrating a legacy that began in the late 1870s when the sisters first arrived from Switzerland to minister to German immigrants and Native Americans.
After establishing their home base on Watertown’s Harmony Hill in 1964, the sisters touched countless lives across the region. However, as the 21st century progressed, the community faced a stark reality: with a median age of 86 and just 29 sisters remaining, they needed to decide the fate of their expansive property.
Rather than sell the land and quietly step back, the sisters chose to lean in. They embarked on an ambitious, multi-phase development project to create a vibrant, intergenerational community rooted in their foundational values of hospitality, human dignity, and care for others.
“Accolades have never been the goal or desired outcome in our service to God’s people,” shared Sister Barbara Younger, Prioress of the Monastery, upon receiving the award alongside former Prioress Sister Terry Hoffman. “However, it is evident to us today... that what you do with your life matters.”
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the sisters accelerated their vision. In under 18 months, they designed, built, and opened The Village at Harmony Hill, a state-of-the-art assisted living and memory care facility. Since December 2023, the facility has maintained an astonishing 89% occupancy rate—a figure widely described as unheard of in the long-term care industry.
The transformation did not stop at senior care. The campus is now home to Our Little Village Learning Center, which has grown into the largest early childhood learning program in Codington County. The center currently serves 120 students, with the capacity to welcome 100 more. To support the local economy, affordable workforce housing has also been developed on the campus grounds.
The sisters’ forward-thinking master plan continues to evolve, with ongoing partnerships and developments that include student housing for Lake Area Technical College, new single-family homes, and the highly anticipated South Dakota Challenger STEM Learning Center.
During the award presentation, Kitty Kinsman, Chair of the South Dakota Hall of Fame Board of Directors, praised the sisters’ courage and resilience. Kinsman, a Watertown native who fondly recalled taking tennis lessons from the sisters in her youth, noted the profound impact the monastery has had on both the local economy and the social fabric of the state.
“Transformation is to hit current reality at high velocity and energy, and watch it break apart into a million tiny pieces upon impact,” Kinsman said, quoting Irish poet David Whyte to describe the sisters’ journey. “This group of women didn’t close in on themselves... they listened and responded, focusing on what was theirs to do in that moment.”
Today, Harmony Hill has become an economic engine for the Watertown area. Where only the remaining 29 sisters once worked, the campus now employs more than 120 people across its various facilities.
By boldly redefining their purpose, the Benedictine Sisters of Mother of God Monastery have ensured that their mission of service will long outlast them. They have answered their final vocational calling not by winding down, but by planting vibrant seeds of community, education, and care for generations of South Dakotans to come.
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