COUNCIL GROVE — A restoration of two historic sites related to American Indian history are providing an opportunity to tell a “broader story,” officials said Saturday.
The Kaw Mission State Historic Site and Last Chance Store reopened in an event Saturday after a restoration four years in the works.
Its renovation was an effort by museum staff, historians, the Kaw Nation and the Santa Fe Trail Association.
The Kaw Mission was built in 1851 as a school that could to accommodate about 50 Native boys after the government forcibly relocated the Kanza people to Council Grove in 1846. Mark Brooks, the site administrator, said the school taught the students farming, reading, writing and math; the Methodist Episcopal Church, which ran the school, also taught them the beliefs and practices of Christianity. In 1873, the government again forced the Kanza to move to a different reservation. The state acquired the building in 1951, a century after it was built.
Brooks said after Mexico became independent from Spanish rule, it opened up trade with the United States. Mexicans wanted manufactured goods like textiles and metal cooking pots, which were new technology at the time. Millions of dollars worth of goods were hauled to New Mexico and even further south.
The Santa Fe Trail ran right through Council Grove. Unlike the Oregon and the California trails, which were immigration routes, the Santa Fe Trail was a commercial trade route. It was the last stop in civilization before reaching Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Brooks said the Last Chance Store is the only trading post still standing in Kansas on the Santa Fe Trail.
“These hired men that are hauling these wagons down the Santa Fe Trail need supplies,” Brooks said. “They need flour and they need salt pork, and they need coffee and they need whiskey so that they can live on the trail as they go to Santa Fe. So, the Last Chance Store is the last chance to get those items. We’ve tried to retain its historical fabric as far as the building, and we’ve staged it to look like how a trading post might look in the 1850s.”
Patrick Zollner, Kansas Historical Society executive director, said the organization acquired the Last Chance Store in 2015. It was gifted to the Kansas Historical Society by Connie and Don Essington.
“With that opportunity, Kaw Mission was the last of our 16 state historic sites to be reinterpreted,” Zollner said. “The exhibits that were in there before were from the 50s and 60s, so this gave us the opportunity to tell a broader story.”
The restored Last Chance Store sits at 516 W. Main St. It was originally built in 1857, and in 2016, there was an archeological dig at the site. Researchers found more than 27,000 artifacts, including wooden dominos, dice, whiskey bottles and a pair of eyeglasses. These are now on display at Kaw Mission.
Brooks said the Kaw Mission is part of Council Grove’s culture. In a speech Saturday, he reminisced about growing up in Council Grove and taking field trips to the same museum he works for now.
“History is important to all Council Grovians,” Brooks said. “By doing what we’ve done here, we’ve been able to continue the story of the Santa Fe Trail and the Kanza people for generations to come.”
Council Grove’s historical sites are free to the public. Brooks said this enables people to learn about the history of Kansas and the native people who once walked the same ground.
“This being part of a Kanza reservation starting in 1846 — we’re standing on former Kanza land,” Brooks said. “Historically, this is an important site of the forced assimilation toward the Kanza.”
“The theme of our museum is westward expansion and how that affected the Native people, the Hispanics and even the Anglos,” Brooks said. “The main floor is on the Native peoples, mainly the Kanza. The upper floor is the Santa Fe Trail, and we want to talk about how trade happened even before the Santa Fe Trail began.”
Well before the trail, the Natives were trading among themselves with tribes all over North America. Archeological digs have uncovered artifacts like pipestone from Minnesota and turquoise from New Mexico in Kansas.
“Our main job is to educate,” Brooks said. “To tell historic facts and educate. We don’t have a viewpoint; history can be good, history can be bad. It’s our job just to tell the story.”
