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Chilocco Indian
Agriculture School Listed as Historic
Picture of Haworth Hall as it originally stood.
On September 9, Chilocco
Indian Agriculture School was listed in the National Register of Historic
Places in Washington D.C. This listing was recorded at the national level.
The National Registrar of
Historic places is the nation's official list of cultural resources worthy
of preservation. Authorized under National Historic Preservation Act of
1966, the National Register is part of a national program to coordinate and
support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect our
historic and archeological resources.
Properties listed in the
Register include districts, sites, buildings, structures, and object that
are significant in American history, architecture, archeology, engineering,
and culture.
The National Register is
administered by the National Park Service, which is part of the U.S.
Department of the Interior.
Opened in 1884, Chilocco
was one of the first government run, non-reservation Indian boarding schools
established in the United States.
Located in Kay County,
this school was the largest school in terms of acreage in the government
system, and vied with Haskell Institute in Kansas for the largest number of
students.
This nationally
significant school closed in 1980 and the campus, consisting of 70
buildings, has seen a rapid decline. Currently, the Kaw Nation,
Otoe-Missouri Tribe, Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, Ponca Nation, and Tonkawa
Tribe share ownership of the campus. Preservation Oklahoma, a statewide
non=profit preservation advocacy group, has listed Chilocco in its annual
list of Oklahoma's Most Endangered Historic Places for the past three years.
The hope is that the
listing will spur further interest in the preservation and adaptive use of
this campus. |
