The Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site and Historic Landmark must not be diminished nor reduced in size nor deprived of its integrity!  It is a treasure to be preserved for the benefit of all Kansans, present and future, and honor our past!

The Shawnee Mission was established in 1829 by Rev. Johnson as an Indian school for the Shawnee children and Indian children of other tribes.  The 1927 State Statute establishing the Kansas Historic Site, in describing the site, stated:

• “Said land and the buildings standing thereon constitute the buildings and site of the Old Shawnee Mission, established by the Methodist church in the year 1829.
• That they were the first buildings of any pretension of substantial construction built in the territory now Kansas.
• That for many years they constituted the farthest permanent outpost of western migration.
• That in 1855 they became the residence of Governor Reeder and the first territorial officers; and in that year housed the first legislature of Kansas, which first legislature named the first permanent capital of Kansas.
• That they were the barracks of federal troops during the Civil War.
• That they were the headquarters for the early Indian campaigns, and were the center around which waged the border warfare. 
• That this mission was the first point in Kansas on the Old Santa Fe trail and was the mobilization center on the Oregon Trail later made famous by the “covered wagon”. ”

The legislation set aside the full 12 (11.97) acres, obtained by eminent domain, as the Historic Site for the citizens of Kansas and the country. The State identified the site for its historic significance and it was “declared to possess unusual historical interest”. The legislation was tested in the courts and upheld (Kansas Supreme Court 1927). The Kansas State Historical Society, by the same legislation, was entrusted to protect and preserve the site as custodian, and to manage its uses. This is the same Historical Society that is now seeking legislation to sell a significant part of it!

The entire 12-acre site was registered as a National Historic Landmark in 1968, even a higher designation than being listed on the national registry.  The Historical Site has survived in its entirety as originally set aside in 1927 for nearly eighty years - through the depression and recessions, surrounding housing development, legal and other challenges.

“The visual landscape surrounding the historical buildings at the Shawnee Indian Mission has been encroached upon through the years [of over 2000 acres, only the 12 acre site is now preserved]. For this reason alone, further encroachment must be prohibited.  With the small bit of contextual landscape that is left, children today can imagine what life was like when the Mission was serving the Native American youth of the 1840’s”. (Kansas Preservation Alliance, 4/12/2005)