The Pawnee Agency and Boarding School District lies east of the city of Pawnee in Pawnee County, Oklahoma. Other names are: Pawnee Indian Agency, Pawnee Indian School and Pawnee Indian Boarding School. The District occupies approximately of the Pawnee Tribal Reserve, a tract that is owned by the Pawnee tribe. Black Bear Creek divides the District from the town. The Pawnee Agency was established as a post office on May 4, 1876.Wilson, Linda D. "Pawnee." Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Accessed November 9, 2015.
History of the Pawnee School in Indian Territory The policy of the U.S. Government toward the Native Americans was to get them to accept allotment (ownership of tribal land by individual tribesmen) and American style education. Together, these two things were expected to end the tribes' dependence on the American government. Toward that end, the government had built schools on Pawnee land in Nebraska Territory, where most of the tribe lived by the time of the American Civil War. Treaties between the U.S. and the Pawnees had established that the latter would cede their lands in Nebraska to the government and move to an area the government had designated for them in Indian Territory. The removal had been scheduled for 1876. The industrial school in Nebraska Territory operated by the government for the Pawnees closed in September 1875, since holding classes would be impractical during the move.McClure, pp. 91-94
For various bureaucratic reasons, the planned boarding schools could not be ready as soon as the tribe arrived at their destination. However, it was possible to open two day schools in February 1876. These could provide only an elementary level of education. Government policy makers held that a hierarchical system would produce satisfactory results. Day schools would introduce children to the English language and basic primary education. Those children who made satisfactory progress would move on to boarding schools, Boarding schools would continue the primary subjects, add more advanced topics and focus half of each day on "industrial education." Off-reservation schools offered more advanced education and industrial training.McClure, p. 94
Although planning for the boarding school was well advanced in February 1876, construction funding had not been approved. An 1857 treaty had appropriated ten thousand dollars a year to operate two industrial education (manual labor) schools. The Pawnees had expected to use the unexpended portion of the money to construct the new school. The government's Indian Office held that the funds were only to support existing schools, not to build new ones. By the summer of 1877, the Indian Office finally agreed that not using the funds to build the new school meant that the Pawnees would have no school, therefore abrogating the treaty. The construction contract was awarded shortly after. The new school building and girls' dormitory were completed in May, 1878. However, other delays ensued. A cistern dug near the school leaked all its water. Later, it was determined that the cement used in its construction was still "green" (uncured) when water first filled the cistern. This was repaired, but purchasing school supplies was delayed in the Fall by bureaucratic delays getting the required approvals. School finally opened on November 11, 1878.
McClure documents complaints and problems that cropped up after the school opened. One was overcrowding. Agents regularly requested funding for a second school, as promised in the 1857 treaty. No such action was ever taken. In 1884, the Agent reported that the water supply had always been inadequate; water of poor quality had to be hauled from a source a half mile away. Official visitors found 39 girls sharing 13 beds in 1889. The sewage system was inadequate as late as 1900. Despite the lack of a satisfactory sewer system, there was a new building program during the 1890s that resulted in the construction of a commissary and carpenters' shop (1891) and the Boys' Dormitory (1892).McClure, p. 120
The original Boys' Dormitory was destroyed by a fire in 1904. There were no deaths or injuries, but the monetary loss was estimated at 25 to 30 thousand dollars. The school sent some of the youngest boys back home and housed the remainder in other buildings. The administration also concerned itself about fire safety measures in other buildings. The burned building was replaced in 1909.
The boarding school finally closed in 1958. The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) took possession of all the school's buildings.
In 2011, the Oklahoma Historical Society's Historic Preservation Office awarded its Citation of Merit for the rehabilitation of three buildings of the former boarding school. The buildings were: the former staff quarters, the dining hall and Pawnee Indian Clinic. All three now serve the new Pawnee Nation College. Recipients of the award were the Pawnee Business Council, Barrett L. Williamson Architects, and Builders Unlimited."Pawnee Nation’s preservation efforts awarded." Stillwater News Press. June 20, 2011. Accessed May 25, 2016.
Pawnee Agency Organization When the Pawnees came to Indian Territory, the Pawnee Agency reported directly to the Indian Office. By 1883, the Pawnee Agency was consolidated with the Otoe and Ponca agencies, and relocated to the community of Whiteeagle. The Tonkawa Agency was united with the other three agencies in 1886. A single agent oversaw the activities of the consolidated agency, and only a clerk was left at the Pawnee reservation to handle day-to-day administration there. The Indian Office transferred all the administrative duties for the Pawnee tribe to the Pawnee School Superintendent. Previously, the Pawnee Agent was also responsible for the Oakland, Otoe and Ponca tribes. These duties were removed in 1902, leaving the school superintendent of the school and Pawnee tribe administration. In 1920, the Indian Office returned the Ponca and Otoe tribes to the responsibility of the Pawnee Agency, and added the Tonkawas as well. In 1927, the Pawnee agent was made responsible for dealings with the Pawnees, Poncas, Kaws, Otoe-Missourias and Tonkawas. The organization remained stable until the Pawnee Agency was made part of the Western Oklahoma Consolidated Agency at Anadarko in 1947. In 1950, the government established an Area Field Office at Anadarko, leaving a field agent in the Pawnee community.McClure, pp. 2-25
NRHP listing The Pawnee Agency and Boarding School District was added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on December 28, 2000, with registration number 00001577. The Pawnee Indian Agency and Superintendent's house, also within the District, were listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) in 1973, under Criteria A and C. The period of significance is defined by the District NRHP application as 1876 to 1950. There are a total of 20 additional buildings/structures that are "contributing", and nine "non-contributing" buildings/structures in the District. "Non-contributing" structures are either modern or have obscure histories. and
Contributing buildings
Pawnee Agency Office
The Pawnee Agency Office is a one-story building that was constructed about 1906. The NRHP application says that: "The 1876 Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs mentions only one stone building and it seems more likely that this describes the Superintendent's Residence, as it refers to a combination office and dwelling." The building was being used for tribal offices and storage at the time of the NRHP Application.
The main part of the building is a hall and parlor, covered with quarry-faced, coursed, ashlar sandstone blocks, and has a full porch, with simple supports and a balustrade made of pipe. The back of the building has a gable- roofed, stone extension at the northwest corner, added in 1928. A small concrete vault with a hip roof was added in 1914, and a wood frame extension was added to the northeast corner at an unknown date.
McGuire quoted the Superintendent's report as saying,"...a fine stone building containing a room each for the superintendent, clerk, financial clerk and stenographer, and a waiting room for the Indians." In 1914, a two-room addition was built, along with a vault and a toilet. In 1916, a cellar and a hot water heating system were added to the building.McGuire, pp. 169-170.
The work load had increased, increasing the needs for more staff and records storage space. The Agency requested funding for a replacement building, but it was never built. By 1973, the Agency moved its operations to a building in downtown Pawnee, and the U.S. Public Health Service had leased the former agency office building for use as a pharmacy. By 2000, the Pawnee tribe was using the building for office space.McGuire, pp. 170-172.
Superintendent's Building
This is the oldest building in the district, having been constructed in 1876. The Superintendent's Building was unoccupied at the time of the NRHP application, when reported some significant structural damage parts of it. Originally built as an office and residence for the Indian Agent, it became the office and residence for the school superintendent around the turn of the 20th century, giving it its current name. It is a two-story structure, built in Queen Anne style, of cured ashlar sandstone. It has a wrap-around porch supported by wooden columns which rest on stone piers. This is not the original porch, but a replacement constructed in 1916. A porte-cochere was added to the west side of the building sometime after 1916. The building also has a front-facing gable and a side-facing gable There is a kitchen with a shed roof on the south side and a hip-roofed room in the L-shaped space formed by the kitchen and the side-facing gable wing. Both of these additions are roofed with green composition shingles, while the main building has asbestos shingles. Originally, these structures had wood-shingle roofs.
According to McClure, this building was rented out as a private residence by 1973, when the building was listed separately on the NRHP. By the time McClure submitted her thesis (May 2000), it was unoccupied. She described its physical condition as "poor" because the many broken windows, though covered with boards, had admitted wind and rain; there were significant cracks in the floor slab and the stem walls; the basement walls were no longer watertight and the porte cochere roof was collapsing from rot.McClure, p. 175
Pawnee-Ponca Hospital
Construction of the Pawnee-Ponca Hospital was begun in 1929, and the facility opened January 15, 1931. It had a 55-bed hospital and an attached ward for patients who had tuberculosis. An unattached building west of the main building served as the nurses' residence. The buildings were three stories high, with two and a half stories being above ground. They were faced with quarry-faced, regularly-coursed, ashlar sandstone. The main building has a hipped roof with a centered, south-facing gable. On either side of the gable is a hipped dormer that reappears on other buildings of the district. The nurses' residence and the tubercular ward have pyramidal roofs.
The hospital was originally operated by the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) for the tribes that lived in the surrounding area (primarily Pawnees and Poncas). It was later converted to a health clinic operated by the Indian Health Service (IHS). The former nurses' residence is now the clinic administration building.
Home Economics Building ("Old Laundry")