Kaw Mission is a historic church mission at 500 N. Mission Street in Council Grove, Kansas that was home, school and church to 30 Kaw boys from 1851–1854. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1971. With . The site is now administered by the Kansas Historical Society as Kaw Mission State Historic Site. Displays include Kaw items and mid-19th century frontier items and furnishings. The state of Kansas was named for the Kaw (or Kansa). These people lived in the area that is now Kansas for many generations. They were moved to the Neosho Valley where they lived for less than 30 years. Despite an impassioned plea by Chief Allegawaho, the

U.S. government The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

removed the Kaw to

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

(now Oklahoma) where they now have tribal lands.

History

The

Santa Fe Trail The Santa Fe Trail was a 19th-century route through central North America that connected Franklin, Missouri, with Santa Fe, New Mexico. Pioneered in 1821 by William Becknell, who departed from the Boonslick region along the Missouri River, th ...

operated as a commerce route between the Missouri and Mexico. The area that is now Kansas was the western limit of American settlement. Trail traffic headed for the Spanish town of Santa Fe, passed through what is now Council Grove. Situated on the Neosho River, the community was a natural stopping place, with water, grass, and timber. It was there in 1825 that the U.S. government negotiated with the Osages for a passage across their lands. This

right-of-way Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another. A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...

became the Santa Fe Trail, the council with the Osages inspired the town's name. A treaty with the Kaw in 1846 reduced their lands to a 20-mile square tract that included the present-day Council Grove. Traders and government quickly moved to the new location. Seth M. Hays, the first white settler at Council Grove, established a home and trading post there in 1847 along the Santa Fe Trail. The treaty with the Kaws established an annual payment of $1,000 to advance the education of the Kaws in their own country. In 1850 the

Methodist Episcopal Church The Methodist Episcopal Church (MEC) was the oldest and largest Methodist denomination in the United States from its founding in 1784 until 1939. It was also the first religious denomination in the US to organize itself on a national basis. In ...

South, which had ministered to the tribe since 1830, received governmental approval to construct a mission and school building, which was completed by February 1851. The native stone building had two stories, eight rooms, and accommodated 50 student boarders along with teachers, missionaries, and farmers. School began in May 1851 under the direction of Thomas Sears Huffaker, a 24-year-old teacher who had served at the Shawnee

Manual Labor Manual labour (in Commonwealth English, manual labor in American English) or manual work is physical work done by humans, in contrast to labour by machines and working animals. It is most literally work done with the hands (the word ''manual'' ...

School near present-day Kansas City. Students received instruction in spelling,

reading, writing, and arithmetic ''Reading, Writing and Arithmetic'' is the debut studio album by English alternative rock band the Sundays. It was released in 1990 on Rough Trade Records in the United Kingdom, and on DGC Records in the United States. The album's title is a re ...

. The boys learned the principles of agriculture, but they received no instruction in the trades. Classes continued until 1854, when the school's excessive fees--$50 a student—led to its closure. The Kaw people considered the mission's purpose degrading and sent only those boys who were orphans or dependents of the tribe. Girls were not allowed to attend the mission. A subsequent change in 1859 further reduced the Kaw land to a 9- by 14-mile tract. The Kaw lands were relinquished in the 1870s, and the tribe moved to a reservation in present-day Oklahoma. Thomas Huffaker bought the mission lands in 1865, which he owned for 14 years. In 1926 when Carl I. Huffaker, Thomas' son, bought the part on which the mission building stands. In 1951, the

Kansas legislature The Kansas Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. It is a bicameral assembly, composed of the lower Kansas House of Representatives, with 125 state representatives, and the upper Kansas Senate, with 40 state senators. ...

authorized the purchase of the mission property. The Kansas Historical Society administers the mission.

References

External links

Kaw Mission State Historic Site
- Kansas Historical Society * {{National Register of Historic Places Kaw tribe Kansas state historic sites Museums in Morris County, Kansas History museums in Kansas Native American museums in Kansas Education museums in the United States Methodist churches in Kansas Properties of religious function on the National Register of Historic Places in Kansas Buildings and structures in Morris County, Kansas National Register of Historic Places in Morris County, Kansas 1851 establishments in Indian Territory Native American schools