Historical Debate: Proposed House Bill 2384 would transfer ownership of the Shawnee Indian Mission to the Shawnee Tribe

House Bill 2384 calls for the ownership of the historic Shawnee Indian Mission site in Fairway to be transferred from the Kansas State Historical Society to the Shawnee Tribe. House Bill 2384 ensures that the land will be preserved as a historical site.

A hearing was held on Feb. 25 to determine if the bill would go to the House and the Senate.

The bill is expected to go through the House and Senate today.

There has been an ongoing debate about the topic. Supporters of the bill have called for the property to be given to the Shawnee Tribe. In 2021, an investigation began to see if native children were buried at the site, though no children were found buried.

The Shawnee Indian Mission was built in 1839 by Methodist Reverend Thomas Johnson as a school for Native American children, including, but not exclusive to those in the Shawnee Tribe. Although the land is owned by the Kansas State Historical Society, the city of Fairway, — where the site is located — oversees much of the Shawnee Indian Mission.

The current chief of the Shawnee Tribe, Ben Barnes, spoke to the Kansas House of Representatives on Feb. 25, expressing his support for the bill.

“Historically, legally and culturally this is a Shawnee place, but more importantly, it’s a place of shared history and it belongs to all who seek its significance,” Barnes said.

House Bill 2834 seeks to achieve many of the same things House Bill 2208 did, such as giving ownership of the Shawnee Indian Mission to the Shawnee Tribe. House Bill 2208 was introduced in 2024. The bill wasn’t successful in committee and never reached voting in the house nor the state.

Barnes cited a main reason for his support of House Bill 2208 to be a state of disrepair the site is heading towards.

“The reality is that history is already being lost,” Barnes Said. “Every day that the site is left to decay we lose irreplaceable parts of our shared past.”

Barnes plans to renovate the site. Barnes claimed the renovations would take over ten years, would cost around $15 million and that the tribe had enough money to renovate the site.

Freshman Eli De La Cruz lives near the Shawnee Indian Mission, and believes the land should be transferred to the Shawnee Tribe.

“I’m going to be honest, the city isn’t doing that much with it,” De La Cruz said.

Those who oppose the bill include the Wyandot Nation of Kansas. Children who were members of the Wyandot Nation of Kansas attended the Shawnee Indian Mission.

Chief Judith Manthe of the Wyandot Nation of Kansas wrote to members of the committee and to the Kansas House of Representatives to express her disdain with the bill.

“If the Mission would go to the Shawnee, I have sincere doubt that all the history and stories of the Mission would be told, or the buildings would even be preserved.” Manthe said.