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Discover Mid-America — March 2007

Shawnee Indian Mission
served a changing frontier

Eastern Indian tribes were relocated to the Kansas Territory in 1825, and they were soon on a collision course with American expansion. Reaction from white settlers ranged from open hostility to missionary benevolence. In the Kansas City area, the missionaries won out — for a while.

The Shawnee Indian Mission, located in Fairway, near Kansas City, KS, was once the last vestige of civilization settlers on the Santa Fe and Oregon Trails would see after leaving Westport, Missouri, a few miles to the east. Started in 1839, the mission was the work of missionaries and educators determined to bring God and American culture to the various Indian tribes in the area.

“In the uncertain climate of the mid-1800s,” a narrator in the welcoming video states, “this tract of land sat on a fault-line of American history — a place where people were bound to cross and converging viewpoints were bound to clash.”

The present facility grew out of an earlier mission founded by Thomas Johnson, a Methodist minister, for the Shawnee and Delaware tribes. Johnson, with his wife Sarah, and his brother William, established the first school and ran it until the Fairway mission was built “where the Santa Fe Trail crossed Shawnee lands.”

Besides its role as a school, the mission served as an outfitting station for settlers heading west. Later, it became a Union camp during the Civil War.

Although missionaries in many parts of the world have left a trail of overzealous meddling and the destruction of indigenous culture, the original idea for the Shawnee Indian Mission came from the Indians themselves. According to the Kansas State Historical Society, Chief Fish of the Shawnee Tribe made a request for a missionary in July 1830. In September, a missionary society was formed and the Johnsons were dispatched to establish the mission.

The new school was attended by children of many tribes — Kaw (Kansa), Munsee, Ottawa, Chippewa, Otoe, Osage, Cherokee, Peoria, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Wea, Gros Ventres, Omaha and Wyandot. By 1845, when all three of the present brick buildings were constructed, the Mission housed nearly 200 boys and girls ranging in age from five to 23. In addition to basic academics, the children were schooled in manual arts and agriculture.

Classes began at 9 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m., with boys and girls in separate classrooms, according to information provided at the mission. Students were grouped by ability, not age. A six-year-old might be in the same class with a teenager.

Tribal children were forbidden to speak in their native language. However, the rule was relaxed outside the classroom, and white children at the mission picked up words and phrases from their Indian counterparts.

At the height of its activity, the mission sat on 2,000 acres. Besides the three large buildings, 13 smaller structures included a steam grist and saw mill, stable, wagon shop, blacksmith shop, wash house, smoke house, spring house and barn. The boys did the farm work and the girls helped with the sewing, washing, and cooking. To do their chores and attend six hours of classes, the children rose at 4 a.m. and went to bed at 8 p.m.

I visited the Shawnee Indian Mission State Historical Site on a December morning, probably at the height of the site’s off-season. Randy Sisseck, assistant director, said he had not planned to work at the mission during the winter, but a decision by the State Historical Society to keep the site open kept him on board. He said only the three large buildings remain out of the original 16.

“The original mission had a ten-acre orchard,” Sisseck said, “and 800 acres were put out for crops — mostly wheat and timothy hay. There were livestock, including pigs. And although the records don’t show it, back then it was a given that they had chickens.

“Several farmers lived in the smaller buildings, and maintained the crops. Occasionally, others would be brought in to help with the harvest.”

The East Building, built in 1841, is the only one open to the public because of continuing restoration and the development of facilities for the handicapped. Offices, restrooms and various exhibits occupy the first floor, which originally was used as a chapel. Other exhibits showing how the students lived and studied dominate the second floor, where the classrooms were originally located. The boys’ dormitory, located in the building’s attic, is closed to visitors.

By 1854, the Kansas Territory was established and the “converging viewpoints” referred to in the video emerged. The Territorial Governor took over part of the mission for his offices, which became the site for meeting of the first territorial legislature. During this session, the “bogus laws” to perpetuate slavery in Kansas were passed.

Thomas Johnson became increasingly active in territorial politics, a move that alarmed many Shawnee causing attendance at the school to drop sharply. Later in 1854, the manual training part of the mission closed. Four years later, Thomas Johnson turned the school over to his son, Alexander. In 1862, the mission closed for good.

Thomas Johnson moved to Missouri and was murdered at his home on Jan. 2, 1865. His murderers were believed to be Southern sympathizers angered at Johnson’s allegiance to the Union.

For years most of the 2,000 acres would be absorbed by residential development. The mills and smaller buildings were torn down. In 1927, the original brick buildings on 12 aces were acquired by the state. The site is now managed by the Kansas State Historical Society.

A total of $1.2 million was spent by the society on renovation and new exhibits. The revamped mission was reopened Sept. 16, 2006. It is one of the few Kansas historic sites to remain open during the winter months.

The Shawnee Indian Mission Historic Site is located at 3403 W. 53rd St. Summer hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. From Sept. 16 to Nov. 30, the hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday, and 1-5 p.m., Sunday. Admission is $3 for adults, $2 for seniors and $1 for students.

For more information call 913-262-0867 or visit www.kshs.org/places/shawnee.

Ken Weyand can be reached at kweyand1@kc.rr.com

> Traveling with Ken Archive — past columns