Finnish communities in Savo and surrounding townships in the Dakota Territory were founded in 1881 by Erick Pikkarainen and Kustaa Frederick Bergstadius, agents of the Chicago Milwaukee Railway Company acting at the request of company president C. H. Prior. From 1882 to 1886, Finnish pioneer settlers established themselves across townships including Ada, Liberty, West Portage, Lovell, Palmyra, Osceola, Richland, and Savo, with extensive lists of settlers and land claims recorded by township, section, and claim type such as homestead, tree claim, and preemption. Savo Township also organized its first township board and local offices during this early period. After 1886, additional Finnish people who later died or moved away came to the area and bought or inherited land in Brown County and nearby townships, and by 1955 Finnish landowners were listed across Brown County, Dickey County, and multiple townships in South Dakota and North Dakota. Cultural and religious institutions developed steadily: Savo Township was organized on April 24, 1884; the Savo Evangelical Lutheran Congregation was organized on December 31, 1884; the Apostolic Lutheran Congregation was organized in 1886; Apostolic and Evangelical Lutheran churches, a parsonage, cemeteries, Savo Hall, a public library, a community band, temperance societies, telephone companies, choirs, and a Finnish creamery were established over the following decades. The Savo Evangelical Lutheran Church was destroyed by a tornado on July 2, 1921, and a new church was built in 1922. The Savo Finnish Historical Society was organized in 1952, and the account also records several local men killed in action during World War Two: Jalmer E. Weitala in 1943, and Erland A. Nixon, Edwin A. Hill, Elmer W. Maunu, and Albert Maki in 1944.