This is an exterior view of the Iowa, Sac and Fox Presbyterian Mission erected in 1846. It was three stories high with a belfry that made the total height 52 feet, and it was 107 feet long by 37 feet wide. The mission closed in 1863. From 1863 to 1866, the mission functioned as the Indian Orphanage Institute, but this new role was limited by a proliferation of similar institutions in the Midwest.
After the institute closed in 1866, the mission sat empty until 1868 when the west portion of the building was razed, leaving about 40 percent of the original structure. The razed portion was to be used in the construction of a building at Highland University. Since 1963, the Kansas Historical Society has administered this property as a state historic site. Recently it has been rehabilitated as a museum to showcase the arts and history of the emigrant tribes of Native Americans in northeastern Kansas.
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