Shawnee Methodist Mission

Infobox_nrhp | name =Shawnee Mission
nrhp_type =nhl


caption =East Building in 1940
location= 3403 W. 53rd Street, Fairway, Kansas
lat_degrees = 39
lat_minutes = 1
lat_seconds = 59.2818
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 94
long_minutes = 37
long_seconds = 26.796
long_direction = W
area =
built =1839
designated= May 23, 1968cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=231&ResourceType=Building
title=Shawnee Mission |accessdate=2008-06-28|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service]
added = October 15, 1966cite web|url=http://www.nr.nps.gov/|title=National Register Information System|date=2006-03-15|work=National Register of Historic Places|publisher=National Park Service]
governing_body = State of Kansas
refnum=66000345

Shawnee Methodist Mission was a camp established by missionaries in 1830 to minister to the Shawnee tribe of Native Americans, relocated to its present location in 1839. It was also the second capital of the Kansas Territory, holding that designation from July 16, 1855, to the spring of 1856. It is today a museum located in the town of Fairway, Kansas.

It is the origin of the Shawnee Mission, Kansas name used by the United States Postal Service to refer to the Kansas City, Missouri suburban communities in northeastern Johnson County as well as the Shawnee Mission School District which serves those communities.

The Shawnee

The Shawnee tribe was moved from its traditional Ohio home to the unorganized territories set aside for Native Americans (in the future state of Kansas) under the terms of a treaty dated November 7, 1825. [ [http://digital.library.okstate.edu/Kappler/Vol2/treaties/sha0262.htm Shawnee treaty] ] The mission was initially built on land near the new Shawnee reserve, in the old Turner community, by Reverend Thomas Johnson, in order to convert the recently-relocated tribe to Christianity.

During the 1830s, the Shawnee's most venerated men, including Tenskwatawa "the Shawnee Prophet", were frequently at the mission. The Prophet was Tecumseh's younger brother and had fought with him against the United States earlier in the century, leading the Shawnee in Tecumseh's absence at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Following defeat in this battle, he took his men to the British Canadian colonies, where he was placed under virtual house arrest for years following the end of the War of 1812. He was eventually allowed to return to the Shawnee to help them move from Ohio to Kansas, and he died in 1836 at his village (the present site of Kansas City, Kansas).

The new mission

The mission was located at its original site from 1830 to 1839. In 1839, the mission was moved to its present-day Johnson County location, where an Indian boarding school was opened. From 1839 until its closure in 1862, the Shawnee Mission served as a manual training school for Native Americans, principally from the Shawnee and Delaware tribes.

The Shawnee Mission also served as the second capital of the Kansas Territory. The capital was moved to the mission on July 16, 1855, after pro-slavery delegates to the Territorial Legislature voted to depart the first capital at Pawnee. It served as territorial capital until the spring of 1856, when the seat of government was moved to Lecompton. While the capital was located at Shawnee Mission the legislature promulgated the controversial pro-slavery laws that sparked Bleeding Kansas violence. During the American Civil War, the site also served as a camp for Union soldiers.

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1968.citation|title=PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Text/66000345.pdf National Register of Historic Places Inventory-Nomination: ] |32 KB|date=____, 19__ |author=___website down Add later____ |publisher=National Park Service and PDFlink| [http://pdfhost.focus.nps.gov/docs/NHLS/Photos/66000345.pdf "Accompanying ___ photos, exterior and interior, from 19___"] |32 KB]

Gallery

ee also

*List of capitals in the United States

References

External links

* [http://www.kshs.org/places/shawnee/index.htm Shawnee Indian Mission history]
* [http://www.jocomuseum.org/overlandTrails/trail_3.htm Museum website]