Construction of a second building began immediately, which provided yet more classrooms and living quarters. This building, referred to as the East building today, was completed in 1841. A third building, called the North building, was completed in 1845, which served as a dormitory and class rooms for Indian girls. The school taught basic academics, as well as manual arts and agricultural courses to the boys, and domestic skills to the girls. Over the years, children from several tribes attended including  the Kanza, Munsee, Delaware, Ottawa, Chippewa, Otoe, Osage, Cherokee, Peoria, Kickapoo, Potawatomie, Wea, Gros Ventre, Omaha, and Wyandot. For the next two decades, the school taught classes six days a week to children from ages 5 to 23.

The mission grounds grew to accommodate as many as 200 students and at its height of activity it covered some 2,000 acres, upon which sat farms and gardens and 16 buildings, including a wagon shop, blacksmith shop, wash house, stables, smoke house, barn, spring house and more. The mission also had its own steam grist and saw mill. When the children were not in school, the girls helped with the domestic chores of the mission, while the boys assisted in the shops and on the farm.

In 1854, when Kansas Territory was established, Andrew Reeder, the newly-appointed territorial governor, had his offices at the mission in what is known as the North building today. That same year, the manual training portion of the school ceased, but it continued to teach academics to the children.

The following year, the first Territorial Legislature was meeting for the first time on July 2-6, 1855 at the newly established capitol in Pawnee. During this first session, a cholera epidemic broke out in the town of Pawnee and the legislators, most of whom were pro-slavery men from Missouri, alarmed at the epidemic and already dissatisfied with the distance they had to travel tot he capitol, quickly passed a bill for an adjournment of the session to the Shawnee Mission in Johnson County. Though Governor Reeder vetoed the bill, the legislature overrode his veto and soon adjourned.

The second capitol of Kansas then became the Shawnee Mission on July 16th.It served as territorial capital until the spring of 1856, during which time the legislatures enacted numerous pro-slavery laws that sparked the Bleeding Kansas violence. These politicians and sessions would later become known as the Bogus Legislature.

When the politicians moved their sessions to yet another state capitol in Lecompton, life at the school returned to normal, at least for a little while. In 1858,  the Reverend Thomas Johnson turned the school over to his oldest son, Alexander, who ran the mission until it closed in 1862. During the Civil War, the site and its buildings were utilized as a camp for Union soldiers.

From the Rocky Mountain General Store

Old West Books - Legends of America and the Rocky Mountain General Store has collected a number of Old West books for our frontier enthusiasts.  For many of these, we have only one available.  To see this varied collection, click HERE!