Shawnee (Methodist) Mission,
was founded about the year A. D. 1830, by the Methodist church, after it had tried the experiment of sending Missionaries to the different Indian tribes which proved weak and ineffective; hence the establishment of these the largest Mission buildings ever established in the West; the Government and the M. E. Church paying in equal proportions for the erection of the buildings , and each annually paying $7,500 for its support, under the management of Rev. Thomas Johnson—the children of several different tribes attending. The brick boarding hose, (Mr. Barnard’s Residence,) was built in ’39, and the school buildings commenced in ’40. The school was conducted on the manual labor plan, the farm consisting of nearly four sections of land of which about five hundred acres was in cultivation. It is extensively known as the “Johnson Mission.” See on page 83; and further description in history of county. The excellent flowing Springs here, still afford a convenient watering place for the many teams passing along the road.
