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- By Chez Oxendine
- Real Estate
Kansas lawmakers are again debating who should control one of the state’s most historically sensitive sites: the Shawnee Indian Mission in Fairway.
The 12‑acre site is currently managed by the Kansas State Historical society in partnership with the city of Fairway and the Shawnee Indian Mission Foundation. From 1839 to 1862, the Methodist‑run Shawnee Indian Manual Labor School operated there, taking Native children from 22 tribes in an effort to assimilate them.
In recent years, the Shawnee Tribe has pushed to take ownership, backing multiple House bills that would have conveyed the site from the state. The latest, House Bill 2384, died in committee in 2025 after opposition from Fairway officials and several Johnson County legislators.
“We are obviously disappointed in the vote today, but we’ve known from the beginning that this might be a long road,” Shawnee Tribe Chief Ben Barnes said after HB 2384 was voted down, according to the Johnson County Post.
A new proposal, Senate Bill 518, takes a different approach. The measure would authorize the Kansas State Historical Society to convey the Mission’s 11.97 acres to the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation by July 1, 2028. The tribe would pay all conveyance costs, grant the state a historic preservation easement and be barred from using the land or nearby property for a casino or other gaming facility.
The bill would also require the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation to consult with the other three federally recognized Kansas tribes and any other tribes whose children attended the school, and to report every two years for a decade to the joint committee on state‑tribal relations on rehabilitation and consultation efforts.
Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation Chairman Joseph "Zeke" Rupnick told senators during a March 4 hearing of the Senate Committee on Commerce for the State of Kansas Legislature that the Mission represents “a painful history by many tribes.”
He called the bill “an overdue step towards justice, healing and honoring the sovereign relationship” with the Nation.
The Shawnee Tribe said in a statement to the Post that it “fully supports SB 518,” arguing that “those currently responsible for the care and maintenance of this national landmark have failed in their duty to protect this sacred place.”
Opponents, including Fairway leaders and Kansas State Historical Society Executive Director Patrick Zollner, defended the current arrangement during the March 4 hearing.
Zollner told lawmakers the Mission “is arguably our most significant state historic site” and said, “We remain the best steward for this site. It’s our day job.”
Fairway City Administrator Nathan Nogelmeier said each tribe with ties to the Mission deserves “an equal opportunity to be a part of the Mission’s future.”
