Native Americans in Wyandotte County
Pre-history the junction of the Kansas and Missouri Rivers was home to Indian groups known as the
Hopewells. Little is known about these groups who left earthen mounds including at the Trowbridge
Archaeological Site located at North 61st Street and Leavenworth Road in Kansas City, Kansas,
thought to have been inhabited in about 500 A.D.
In 1800, the census showed the majority of the 5 million US population had land they farmed within
about fifty miles of the Atlantic. There were sixteen states and less than 10% of our population lived in
in the thirty largest urban areas, while another 10% of Americans lived west of the Appalacian
Mountains. Relations between the US and various Indian Nations and Tribes were becoming strained
as land in the East was claimed by farmers and settlers began to move west. Several treaties moved
Native American’s further westward.
Thomas Jefferson had long held a scientist’s vision of extending exploration westward and finding a
waterway across the continent. The fortuitous acquisition from France of the Louisiana Purchase in
1803 (after the French had regained control from Spain in 1800) opened the opportunity also for
acquisition of knowledge. Jefferson also had another consideration which he discussed more
privately in a secret letter to Congress and to notes to James Madison, William Harrison and others.
In 1801 he wrote: “Could we procure lands beyond the limits of the U.S. to form a receptacle for these
people? (the Indians)”. With the hope that the tribes could be convinced “to abandon hunting, to apply
to the raising stock, to agriculture and domestic manufacture, so they will see advantage in improving
their farms, and of increasing their domestic comforts.” This concept later led to Indian “Reserves” or
reservations.
1804
Lewis and Clark started their expedition to explore and map the northwest in St. Louis May 14, 1804.
They camped for three days (June 26-28, 1804) at the spot where the Kansas (Kaw) River enters the
Missouri (Big Muddy Mo) River. They found the area to be agreeable for hunting and later, as
Governor of the Louisiana Territory, Captain Lewis recommended the area to Thomas Jefferson for
development as Indian Reserves.
In the early 1800’s the Indian Nations and Tribes in the area held land loosely. Tecumseh, a leader of
the Shawnee once said bartering with land did not make sense. “Why not sell the air, the clouds, and
the great sea, as well as the earth?” European settlers believed otherwise.
The Kansa Tribe moved south from the area that later became Wyandotte County after skirmishes
with the Iowa and Sac tribes in what was thought to be the late 1770’s. Meriwether Lewis (a close
friend of Thomas Jefferson) and William Clark found the remains of the left behind Kansa settlements
along the Missouri during their travels.
In 1825 a US treaty with the Kansa permanently ended their claim to the land. A treaty with the
Delaware in 1829 gave them rights to land in what would later become Wyandotte County. During the
1830’s Indian Territory including Wyandotte County was divided through more than thirty treaties
mostly overseen by Meriwether Lewis, then Governor of Lousiana Territory.
Wyandotte County was divided among mostly Algonquin Nation Tribe- the Delaware, Ottawa, Miami,
Sac and Foxe, Chippewa, Pattawatomie, Powhatan, Mohegan, Narragansett, and Pequods. The area
South of the Kansas River and West of the Missouri was set aside for the Shawnee, North of the
Kansas River was for the Delaware. Other emigrant tribes also moved to the area included the
Cherokee, Iowa, Iroquois, Kaskaskia, Kickapoo, Munsee, Ottawa, Peoria, Piankashaw, Quapaw,
Stockbridge, and Wea.
1837
Indian Territory in 1837, and reservations
with colored boundaries.
Blue circle is Wyandotte County.
Indian Territory in 1867, with shrinking
Kansas reservations and developing
lands in Oklahoma.
Kansas Territory opened for settlement in 1854 and once again started the forced the removal of
Native American Tribes. Some tribes split during the move to Oklahoma. One of those tribes was the
Wyandotte of the Huron Nation. This tribe had bought a part of the Shawnee Reserve just South of
the Kansas River (where Family Health Care now stands), but when they arrived, the Shawnee
changed their mind. The Wyandotte turned to the Delaware and bought land between the Kansas
River and the Missouri River where they developed the Town of Wyandotte. As the tribes were being
moved south to Oklahoma, part of the Wyandotte tribe relinquished their claims on the land and
assimilated. William Walker, a member of the Wyandot Nation’s Council from the Big Turtle Clan, was
appointed the first Provisional Governor of Nebraska-Kansas Territory in 1854.
As other settlers moved into Kansas
all but four of the tribes were moved
south to Oklahoma. By the 1880’s
only four small reserves were left in
the State- which still remain today.
The “Five Civilized Tribes” in the Oklahoma Territory joined the Confederacy during the Civil War and
fought against the Union. The Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Seminole, and Creek tribes held
slaves and the Cherokee and Choctaw did not abolish slavery on their reservations until 1866. Some
individuals and smaller tribes held anti-slavery views and fought on the Union side. During the Civil
War, there continued to be battles with various tribes in Kansas and more treaties.
Tenskwatawa was a Shawnee prophet who was the brother of the Chief Tecumseh. After the defeat
of Tecumseh at Tippacanoe, Tenskwatawa formed a village “Prophet Town” on the hilly southern
bank of the Kaw (Kansas) River in the Argentine. He died in 1838 and was buried at the Whitefeather
Spring (now 3818 Ruby Avenue).
A contemporary issue arose when the Wyandotte Tribe from Oklahoma determined to develop a
casino in Wyandotte County on land that included the Huron cemetery that holds ancestors of local
Wyandotte people. These people had relinquished their tribal claims when they remained in the area
rather than moving to the Oklahoma reservation. The Oklahoma Wyandotte Tribe won the legal
decision in 1998 and opened a casino with funds being returned to Oklahoma.
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2. https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/histstats-colonial-1970.pdf
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