Ft. Peck Indian School
| Fort Peck Indian School | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1881 |
| Opened | 1881 |
| Closed | 1920's |
| Location | Poplar, MT |
| Peak Patient Population | >200 |
| Alternate Names |
|
History[edit]
The Fort Peck Indian Agency boarding school for members of the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes was established at the agency's headquarters at Poplar Creek in 1881 with Reverend Samuel E. Snider of the Methodist Episcopal Church as its first superintendent. The school was initially built to accommodate fifty students in a one and a half story log building with separate dormitories for males and females. After Snider became the agent for the reservation, the school saw a number of different superintendents up to 1897 including I. T. Miller, M. L. R Carpenter, Joseph. L. Baker, J. H. Welch, and F. C. Campbell.
The school taught, in addition to academic subjects, farming techniques, the "domestic arts," and religious instruction. By early 1886 the school had reached its low point, with the fewest students in attendance since its founding and, in the words of the agent, "under no management at all." However, when D. O. Cowen became the reservation's agent on November 6, 1886 he began to enforce attendance at the school by threatening parents with imprisonment unless they sent their children. In December of that year, the enrollment stood at fifty, but by July 13, 1887 it swelled to over 200.
The school physical plant in 1888 consisted of two frame buildings in addition to the original log structure, but they were destroyed in a fire on November 23, 1891. Another fire occurred on September 18, 1892. Although the school continued in operation into the 1920's, it did so as a new school with lands assigned by the Federal Government; Fort Shaw Industrial Indian Boarding School.
