On March 9, 2005, a bill was introduced into the Kansas Senate Ways and Means committee that would allow for the sale of up to four acres of the Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site to the City of Fairway for a city hall and police station.  The introduction of the bill was the first time the general public became aware that negotiations between the State of Kansas and the City of Fairway had been going on since at least August 2004.

Shortly after the introduction of Senate Bill 293 a number of neighbors and civic-minded individuals from across Johnson County met to discuss how best to address the bill, its neighborhood impact, and the precedence of selling historic land.  Within a week the citizen group realized that it had unified and developed three major objectives:

1. To ensure that the Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site is not divided and sold for development of any kind;
2. That the current funding mechanism of Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site is inadequate and that the site needs carefully created and properly controlled long-term means to address its financial needs; and,
3. Preservation efforts of the Shawnee Indian Mission should include local input in an open and public fashion.

The Shawnee Indian Mission Patriots support the preservation of the Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site and as neighbors and civic-minded individuals would like to be a part of the effort to preserve the site.  Many are willing to substantively contribute to the needs of the site, but hesitate to monetarily support the funding efforts while there is a willingness to authorize the sale of part of the site.

We hope that the Shawnee Indian Mission Strategic Commission can address the needs of the Mission.  However, Senate Bill 293 is very much still alive and can be ratified despite the efforts of the Strategic Commission and overwhelming neighborhood opposition.  For these and other reason, the citizen neighbors created the Shawnee Indian Mission Patriots.