Pawnee Indian Museum State Historic Site

The Pawnee Indian Museum State Historic Site, designated by the Smithsonian trinomial 14RP1,[3] is an archaeological site and museum located near the city of Republic in the state of Kansas in the Midwestern United States.[4] It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places under the name Pawnee Indian Village Site.[5]

Pawnee Indian Village Site
Museum and restored 1901 monument
Nearest cityRepublic, Kansas
Coordinates39°54′30″N 97°51′38″W
Area11.2 acres (4.5 ha)[1]
NRHP reference No.71000325[2]
Added to NRHPMay 14, 1971[2]

Pawnee history

At the site are the remains of a village once occupied by the Kitkehahki, or Republican, band of the Pawnee tribe of Native Americans. It is one of four known Kitkehahki sites in the Republican River valley. The dates of occupation of this particular village are not known; the Kitkehahki intermittently occupied the Republican valley from the 1770s to the 1820s.[3]

After the 1803 Louisiana Purchase, Spain and the United States disputed possession of the Louisiana Territory. Both nations sought allies among the Native American peoples of the territory, including the Pawnees. In 1806, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike led an expedition into the southwestern portions of the Territory. He visited a Pawnee village soon after the departure of a much larger Spanish expedition; there, he persuaded the inhabitants to haul down a Spanish flag and to replace it with that of the United States.[6][7]

Preservation and archaeology

In the 1870s, Elizabeth A. Johnson of Republic County became interested in Pike's flag episode. She discovered this site in 1875 and, after studying Pike's journals and investigating another reported Pawnee site in southern Nebraska, concluded that this was the village that Pike had visited. To protect the site from being plowed, she and her husband bought the land. In 1901, the Johnsons donated the site to the state of Kansas for historic preservation.[7][8]

The state appropriated $3,000 to fence the land and build a 26-foot (7.9 m) granite monument commemorating the 1806 flag incident. At the 1901 dedication ceremony, several of the speakers drew parallels between Pike's symbolic triumph over Spain and the recent American victory in the Spanish–American War. In 1906, a four-day celebration was held to mark the centennial of the Pike episode.[3][8]

Subsequent research showed that Pike's expedition had not visited this village, but the Kitkehahki village now known as the Pike-Pawnee Village Site, located on the Republican River in Webster County in south-central Nebraska. The error was a fortunate one, however: it led to the preservation of this site, whereas the Nebraska site had been degraded by years of cultivation.[3][7]

Some archaeological investigation at the site was conducted in 1933, 1949, and 1957. Intensive investigation took place from 1965 to 1968. In 1967, a museum was constructed around one of the earth lodges prior to its excavation; the excavated lodge has been left open, with many artifacts in situ.[3][9] The museum is operated by the Kansas Historical Society.[4]

In 1971, the site was added to the National Register of Historic Places.[5]

The 1901 monument at the site was damaged by a tornado in 2004. As a historically significant structure, it has been restored, but not to its original height and appearance.[9][10]

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See also

References
  1. Witty, Thomas A. and Richard Pankratz. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form: Pawnee Indian Village and Site (14RP1)". Kansas Historical Society. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  2. National Park Service data, obtained from National Register of Historic Places NPS Focus; this page used to search for Republic County, Kansas, yielding a link to an information page for Pawnee Indian Village Site. As of 2010-12-14, no specific URL for this site's NPS information.
  3. Asher, Brendon Patrick (2009). "Kitkehahki Chipped Stone Technologies: A Comparative Study". M.A. thesis, University of Kansas, Anthropology. Downloadable PDF available via link from abstract. Retrieved 2010-11-24.
  4. "Pawnee Indian Museum". Archived 2010-11-24 at the Wayback Machine Kansas Historical Society. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  5. "National and State Registers of Historic Places—County: Republic." Kansas Historical Society. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  6. Oliva, Leo (2005). "Lieutenant Facundo Melgares and the Spanish Troops in Kansas". Santa Fe Trail Research. Retrieved 2010-10-28.
  7. Platoff, Anne M. "The Pike-Pawnee Flag Incident: Reexamining a Vexillogical Legend". Archived 2011-07-14 at the Wayback Machine Raven: A Journal of Vexillology v. 6 (1999) p. 1-8. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  8. Laugesen, Amanda. "Making a Unique Heritage: Celebrating Pike's Pawnee Village and the Santa Fe Trail, 1900-1918." Kansas History, Autumn 2000. Kansas Historical Society. Retrieved 2010-10-26.
  9. Wulfkuhle, Virginia A. "KATP Field School Will Uncover New Information at Pawnee Indian Museum State Historic Site". Kansas Preservation, vol. 30, no. 1 (January–February 2008), pp. 18-21. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  10. Compare the 1901 photograph in Laugesen (2000) to this 2010 photo.
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