Intermountain Indian School: Difference between revisions
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Patfromhilo (talk | contribs) I was in Brigham City and witnessed the pressure from students and tribes trying to keep the school open. I had a bad start, but it progressed and was valued, especially by families that were faced with their children now being minorities #article-section-source-editor Tags: Mobile edit Mobile app edit iOS app edit |
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| caption = A few vacant buildings at the Intermountain Indian School |
| caption = A few vacant buildings at the Intermountain Indian School, 2008 |
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| established = {{Start date|1949}} |
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| founded = 1949 |
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| opened = January 1950 |
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| status = Closed |
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| closed = 1984 |
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== History == |
== History == |
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This was originally the site of '''Bushnell Army Hospital'''. It operated from 1942 to 1946 and served wounded soldiers of [[World War II]]. Brigham City had donated the land to the [[Federal government of the United States|Federal government]] in order to get a hospital constructed. Doctors, nurses, military personnel, wounded patients, and their families arrived in Brigham City to work at Bushnell. The first patient was admitted on 10 October 1942. After the hospital's closure following the end of the war, the buildings sat empty for a short period. The city considered what should be done with the land. The last patient was discharged 22 June 1946. At its peak, the hospital was a community of some 6,000 inhabitants, including patients, assigned military personnel, and civilian employees.<ref>Staff, "S. B. Soldier Last Patient At Bushnell Hospital, Utah - Combat Wounded Veteran Holds Distinction As Final Man at Once Busy Institution", ''The San Bernardino Daily Sun'', San Bernardino, California, Sunday 23 June 1946, Volume 52, page 15.</ref> |
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In 1948, Brigham City got a proposal for an Indian school. The estimate for remodeling, new construction, and equipment was $3.75 million. President Harry Truman signed the bill allocating the money in May 1949. The superintendent and a few assistants began working on June 4, 1949, and by January 1950, 542 students were accepted at the federally run Intermountain Indian School. Since that time, the school was authorized to enroll 2,150 students. The school served [[Navajo people|Navajo]] children |
In 1948, Brigham City got a proposal for an Indian school.{{More detail needed|reason=from whom?}} The estimate for remodeling, new construction, and equipment was $3.75 million. President Harry Truman signed the bill allocating the money in May 1949. The superintendent and a few assistants began working on June 4, 1949, and by January 1950, 542 students were accepted at the federally run Intermountain Indian School. Since that time, the school was authorized to enroll 2,150 students. The school served [[Navajo people|Navajo]] children, grades 1–12, and was designed to assimilate them.<ref name="kuer.org">{{cite web | url=https://www.kuer.org/race-religion-social-justice/2021-08-06/some-lost-their-lives-some-found-their-lives-remembering-the-intermountain-indian-school | title='Some Lost Their Lives, Some Found Their Lives': Remembering the Intermountain Indian School | date=6 August 2021 }}</ref> They were bused from [[Arizona]]. The school had its own medical facility and printing press. |
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In 1954, 24 students graduated from the school, and by 1955 that number jumped to 188. By 1981, 5,319 students had graduated. |
In 1954, 24 students graduated from the school, and by 1955 that number jumped to 188. By 1981, 5,319 students had graduated. |
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By the early 1970s, enrollment was down. Native American activism had risen and many families wanted their children to be educated closer to home and to have more control over their education. The school enlarged its scope beyond the Navajo and was renamed as the Intermountain Inter-Tribal School for the 1974–1975 school year. It ultimately enrolled students from nearly 100 tribes. |
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In 1971, a group of students filed a lawsuit to shut the school down.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{cite web | url=https://www.kuer.org/race-religion-social-justice/2021-08-06/some-lost-their-lives-some-found-their-lives-remembering-the-intermountain-indian-school?_amp=true | title='Some Lost Their Lives, Some Found Their Lives': Remembering the Intermountain Indian School | date=6 August 2021 }}</ref> They alleged administrators drugged students with Thorazine to sedate them, illegally segregated students, and provided an inferior education.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> |
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| ⚫ | The school closed in 1984 |
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A year later, a student committed suicide in a Brigham City jail after being arrested for public intoxication.<ref name="kuer.org"/> |
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The school eventually had students from many tribes and encouraged cultural activities. "When BIA officials planned on shutting down the school due to limited funding and declining enrollment, students rallied to keep it open. They organized a 24-mile run from Brigham City to the Federal Building in Ogden to speak with Utah’s federal delegates, including Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch and Republican Rep. James Hansen. None of them showed up." https://www.kuer.org/race-religion-social-justice/2021-08-06/some-lost-their-lives-some-found-their-lives-remembering-the-intermountain-indian-school |
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| ⚫ | The school finally closed in 1984. City officials submitted a master plan for the site to the government in order to regain its {{convert|17|acre|m2}} along [[U.S. Route 91 (Utah)|U.S. Route 91]]. It agreed to maintain the land as open space and not use it for anything other than recreation. The government deeded it back to the city. |
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Notable faculty at this school included [[Allan Houser]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Worthington|first=G. Lola|date=26 May 2010|title=Chee, Robert|url=https://www.oxfordartonline.com/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7002086800|access-date=2021-12-24|website=Grove Art Online|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t2086800|isbn=978-1-884446-05-4}}</ref> Notable alumni of the school included [[Robert Chee]]<ref name=":0" /> and [[Robert Draper (painter)|Robert Draper]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Lester|first=Patrick David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eFVyQgAACAAJ|title=The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters|date=1995|publisher=SIR Publications|isbn=978-0-9640706-3-9|pages=156|language=en}}</ref> |
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== The school today == |
== The school today == |
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For the past 20 years, former students of Intermountain have held an annual reunion the third week of July at Wheatfields Lake near [[Navajo, New Mexico]]. |
For the past 20 years, former students of Intermountain have held an annual reunion the third week of July at Wheatfields Lake near [[Navajo, New Mexico]]. |
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== Urban legends == |
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Until recently the school was left largely deserted. This allowed local delinquents to break windows and enter to paint graffiti. Entering these buildings is done as a sort of dare. There are several [[urban legends]] concerning the buildings. The most popular are that the buildings are haunted, or that tunnels built during World War II connecting the buildings underneath are used for satanic blood filled rituals. |
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The School property and buildings were originally the Bushnell Army Hospital, designed specifically to treat amputees during World War II. The buildings were all connected by ramp ways for wheelchair access, including ramps between the first and second floors. Both steam heating pipes and electrical power lines ran under the ramps. The students used to speculate that during the war, they threw all the amputated limbs under the ramps. During the war the grounds were meticulously kept by German POWs. In the late 1970s and early 1980s numbers of former POWs returned to show their children and grandchildren where they spent the war. The original School classroom buildings and the school auditorium have been torn down. |
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==See also== |
==See also== |
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== References == |
== References == |
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{{reflist}} |
{{reflist}} |
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* Kara Campbell & Katrina Brainard, [https://archive. |
* Kara Campbell & Katrina Brainard, [https://archive.today/20130105062135/http://media.www.utahstatesman.com/media/storage/paper243/news/2003/02/26/Features/What-Is.That.i-379628.shtml "What Is That 'I'?"] ''The Utah Statesman'' |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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*[http://digital.lib.usu.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/IndSchool Photos and documents from the Intermountain Indian School Digital Collection]: Utah State University |
*[http://digital.lib.usu.edu/cdm/landingpage/collection/IndSchool Photos and documents from the Intermountain Indian School Digital Collection]: Utah State University |
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*[http://collections.boxeldermuseum.org/index.php/Detail/Place/Show/place_id/2 Photos, documents, yearbooks, and historical objects from the Intermountain Indian School]: Brigham City Museum of Art & History |
*[http://collections.boxeldermuseum.org/index.php/Detail/Place/Show/place_id/2 Photos, documents, yearbooks, and historical objects from the Intermountain Indian School]: Brigham City Museum of Art & History |
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{{Bureau of Indian Education}} |
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[[Category:Buildings and structures in Brigham City, Utah]] |
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Brigham City, Utah]] |
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Latest revision as of 21:03, 17 July 2024
| Intermountain Indian School | |
|---|---|
 A few vacant buildings at the Intermountain Indian School, 2008 | |
| Location | |
 | |
| , , 84302 | |
| Coordinates | 41°29′28″N 112°00′37″W / 41.491047°N 112.0102233°W |
| Information | |
| School type | Native American boarding school |
| Established | 1949 |
| Closed | 1984 |
| Grades | Elementary through high school |
| Enrollment | 2,150 |
The Intermountain Indian School (1950–1984) was a Native American boarding school in Brigham City, Utah.
History
[edit]This was originally the site of Bushnell Army Hospital. It operated from 1942 to 1946 and served wounded soldiers of World War II. Brigham City had donated the land to the Federal government in order to get a hospital constructed. Doctors, nurses, military personnel, wounded patients, and their families arrived in Brigham City to work at Bushnell. The first patient was admitted on 10 October 1942. After the hospital's closure following the end of the war, the buildings sat empty for a short period. The city considered what should be done with the land. The last patient was discharged 22 June 1946. At its peak, the hospital was a community of some 6,000 inhabitants, including patients, assigned military personnel, and civilian employees.[1]
In 1948, Brigham City got a proposal for an Indian school.[more detail needed] The estimate for remodeling, new construction, and equipment was $3.75 million. President Harry Truman signed the bill allocating the money in May 1949. The superintendent and a few assistants began working on June 4, 1949, and by January 1950, 542 students were accepted at the federally run Intermountain Indian School. Since that time, the school was authorized to enroll 2,150 students. The school served Navajo children, grades 1–12, and was designed to assimilate them.[2] They were bused from Arizona. The school had its own medical facility and printing press.
In 1954, 24 students graduated from the school, and by 1955 that number jumped to 188. By 1981, 5,319 students had graduated.
By the early 1970s, enrollment was down. Native American activism had risen and many families wanted their children to be educated closer to home and to have more control over their education. The school enlarged its scope beyond the Navajo and was renamed as the Intermountain Inter-Tribal School for the 1974–1975 school year. It ultimately enrolled students from nearly 100 tribes.
In 1971, a group of students filed a lawsuit to shut the school down.[3] They alleged administrators drugged students with Thorazine to sedate them, illegally segregated students, and provided an inferior education.[3] The lawsuit was ultimately dismissed.[3]
A year later, a student committed suicide in a Brigham City jail after being arrested for public intoxication.[2]
The school eventually had students from many tribes and encouraged cultural activities. "When BIA officials planned on shutting down the school due to limited funding and declining enrollment, students rallied to keep it open. They organized a 24-mile run from Brigham City to the Federal Building in Ogden to speak with Utah’s federal delegates, including Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch and Republican Rep. James Hansen. None of them showed up." https://www.kuer.org/race-religion-social-justice/2021-08-06/some-lost-their-lives-some-found-their-lives-remembering-the-intermountain-indian-school
The school finally closed in 1984. City officials submitted a master plan for the site to the government in order to regain its 17 acres (69,000 m2) along U.S. Route 91. It agreed to maintain the land as open space and not use it for anything other than recreation. The government deeded it back to the city.
Notable faculty at this school included Allan Houser.[4] Notable alumni of the school included Robert Chee[4] and Robert Draper.[5]
The school today
[edit]
Brigham City turned the open land into a golf course and sold the rest to fund the golf course. Objects from the buildings were sold for $100,000, and property was sold for $2.5 million. The dormitories have been turned into townhouses called "Eagle Village". A furniture store, a consulting firm, a martial arts company, and various churches all house their businesses in the former home of the Intermountain Indian School. For several decades many of the buildings stood vacant, but in early 2013 these buildings were demolished to make way for an extension of the Brigham City campus of Utah State University.[6]
For the past 20 years, former students of Intermountain have held an annual reunion the third week of July at Wheatfields Lake near Navajo, New Mexico.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Staff, "S. B. Soldier Last Patient At Bushnell Hospital, Utah - Combat Wounded Veteran Holds Distinction As Final Man at Once Busy Institution", The San Bernardino Daily Sun, San Bernardino, California, Sunday 23 June 1946, Volume 52, page 15.
- ^ a b "'Some Lost Their Lives, Some Found Their Lives': Remembering the Intermountain Indian School". 6 August 2021.
- ^ a b c "'Some Lost Their Lives, Some Found Their Lives': Remembering the Intermountain Indian School". 6 August 2021.
- ^ a b Worthington, G. Lola (26 May 2010). "Chee, Robert". Grove Art Online. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.t2086800. ISBN 978-1-884446-05-4. Retrieved 2021-12-24.
- ^ Lester, Patrick David (1995). The Biographical Directory of Native American Painters. SIR Publications. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-9640706-3-9.
- ^ Opsahl, Kevin (February 7, 2013). "USU starts demolition of abandoned Indian School in Brigham City". The Herald Journal. Retrieved February 15, 2013.
- Kara Campbell & Katrina Brainard, "What Is That 'I'?" The Utah Statesman
External links
[edit]- Outside the Homeland: the Intermountain Indian School: Award-winning exhibition by the Brigham City Museum of Art & History (online version of the temporary exhibition)
- Photos and documents from the Intermountain Indian School Digital Collection: Utah State University
- Photos, documents, yearbooks, and historical objects from the Intermountain Indian School: Brigham City Museum of Art & History