Coweta Boarding School
| Coweta Boarding School | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1843 |
| Opened | 1843 |
| Current Status | Closed |
| Building Style | Single Building |
| Location | Coweta, Wagoner County, OK |
| Alternate Names |
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History[edit]
The mission was started in 1843 by Presbyterian minister Robert Loughridge at Coweta, then the capital of the Creek Nation, Indian Territory. He named the mission "Koweta", after the Creek capital. The Creek had originally resisted Protestant religious missions and their related schools. But in 1842, Robert Loughridge, a Presbyterian missionary, had traveled to Coweta to meet with the Creek Council who gave him permission to open a mission because they wanted their children to have access to an education. Loughridge made the school dependant on the mission. The Council forbid the Rev from preaching anywhere except at his mission.
Writing to the US Indian Agent for the Creek, Rev. Loughbridge states, "My first object was to build a log house to answer the double purpose of school and church. As soon therefore as it was ready for use, my wife commenced teaching a school of fifteen or twenty children, and the neighbors were invited to attendance at the Mission, while the most of them were devotedly attached to their old customs and superstitions." He also reported that approx 10 of these boys were living at the mission already. The school operated for 3 months before being temporarily shut down due to spreading illness. In two years time, he reported attendance of both the mission school and his religious services had grown noticeably and he was able to form church services.
At some point, additional buildings were added to the mission to include; girls' dormitory, boys' dormitory, dining room/kitchen, and employee cabins. They also added a smoke-house, mill-house, and horse stable. Education at the school was not only religious but also focused on educating boys in "all manner of outdoor work" and educating girls on how to "be good helpmates for the educated Indian man by performing all manner of indoor work".
Creek officials granted Loughridge permission to build a second school, which he called Tullahassee Mission. Completed in 1859, it was located 16 miles east of Koweta Mission and 10 miles west of Fort Gibson. Another missionary couple, the Rev. and Mrs. William Robertson, operated this boarding school.
The school flourished until July 10, 1861, when it was suddenly broken up, and all the mission property was taken possession of by the chiefs of the nation. The children were sent home, and teachers left for their homes in the North and South. The Coweta school was never renewed; but at the close of the Civil War, the former teacher, Rev. Robertson was sent with others and revived the school to something of its former size and usefulness in March 1868. The school continued in operation until December 19, 1880, when fire from a flue caught the building on fire and it was burned to the ground.
After the American Civil War broke out, the Presbyterians abandoned the Koweta Mission and left the Territory. It was burned during the war. During the war years, most missionaries abandoned the schools and churches they had started among the tribes, but many children had received some education.
