Leaders from across the Ojibwa Nation

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The Pembina Band occupied the Red River of the North Valley long before the international boundary divided their homeland. In 1670, England claimed the region through the Royal Charter granting Rupert's Land to the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), giving the Company exclusive commercial rights throughout the Hudson Bay drainage basin, extending as far south as the confluence of the Bois de Sioux and Otter Tail Rivers near present-day Wahpeton, North Dakota, and Breckenridge, Minnesota.

During the 1730s, French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye, claimed the region for France and established Fort La Reine and later forts extending westward from Lake Winnipeg. French control ended with the Treaty of Paris (1763), which concluded the French and Indian War in North America and transferred the region to Great Britain.

Following the boundary settlement between the United States and Great Britain, the international border eventually divided the Red River Valley, separating the traditional homeland of the Pembina and Red Lake Chippewa. As settlement expanded and Minnesota became a state, the Pembina Band was ultimately displaced westward into what is now North Dakota, where many became associated with the Turtle Mountain Reservation. North of the border, descendants became associated with the present-day Roseau River First Nation.

In 1849, Father Georges-Antoine Belcourt wrote Major Woods of the Red River Expedition that the Pembina Chippewa District extended approximately 400 miles from southeastern South Dakota north into Canada, and more than 500 miles east to west from Cass Lake, Minnesota, to the Missouri River. Portions of this same region were also claimed by the Yankton, Yanktonai, and Lakota.

The Sault people are the first Anishinaabe to enter the written historical record, appearing in the Jesuit Relations about 1640. The Ojibwe word Baawitigowininiwag ("the people of the rapids") was translated into French as Saulteurs or Saulteaux, meaning "the people at the rapids."

France formally claimed Sault Ste. Marie in June 1671 when Simon-François Daumont de Saint-Lusson proclaimed the territory surrounding Lake Superior for King Louis XIV. Fourteen nations were represented at the ceremony, including the Chippewa, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sauk, Menominee, Winnebago, and Cree.

Following the French defeat in North America, Britain assumed control of the region in 1761, and the Treaty of Paris (1763) formally transferred New France to British rule. During the War of 1812, British and Saulteaux forces successfully defended Sault Ste. Marie against an American attack, maintaining British control of the settlement.

The establishment of the international boundary divided the traditional homeland of the Sault people. Those living north of the border became associated with the present-day Batchewana First Nation, while those south of the border became the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians. Although separated politically, both communities trace their ancestry to the historic people of Baawitigong.

In 2010, the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians and Batchewana First Nation jointly secured the repatriation from the Smithsonian Institution of the remains of six ancestors that had been removed from burial grounds on Whitefish Island about 1875.

Some of the Swan Creek and Black River Bands of Chippewa were removed from Michigan under the treaties of 1836 and 1837. Initially, they were relocated to Kansas, where they shared a reservation with the Christian Munsee. The federal government later took that reservation, leaving the bands landless. Many subsequently joined a band of Potawatomi that became known as the Citizen Potawatomi. During the 1870s, they were again removed to Indian Territory, where they settled in northeastern Oklahoma alongside the Cherokee Nation.

Not all members of the Swan Creek and Black River Bands left Michigan. Those who remained became part of the present-day Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan.

 The Bois Forte Band represents a unique three-way combination within the Anishinaabe world. To the French voyageurs, the largest component was known as the Les Songatikitons ("Strong-Wooded Ones"). A second component was the Lake Vermilion Band of Lake Superior Chippewa. The third was the southern portion of the Little Forks Band of Rainy River Saulteaux, whose traditional homeland was divided by the international boundary. Together, these historically distinct communities became part of the present-day Bois Forte Band. 

The topic of "eduacation" is broad when it comes to Native Americans. Typically the schools are lumped together as though they were all the same.  Here the focus is on one that was atypical, Pipestone Indian Training School. It was a school built at the request of the Yankton Sioux.   

 and built upon land the BIA appropriated from the Yankton Pipestone Reservation. That appropiation was not taken well by the tribe and they took it to court and won. Even though the school was on their land and they had the closest reservation to the school, the student population was drawn more from Minnesota's Chippewa reservations, in particular from White Earth. The religious component, typical of many schools, was not an element of Pipestone. Student health was addressed, with the buildling of a hospital on the campus. In 1889 plans and specifications for a Indian School at Pipestone were drawn up.[274]  Attendence at non-reservation  BIA boarding schools was by application. The length of attendence was specified by the parent on the application they submitted.  For Pipestone, many years there were more applications than beds. The Yankton Pipestone quarry site was a culturally significant location for numerous tribes due to the revered red catlinite quarried there.

In 1890 it was reported tribes had requested a school at the Yankton tribe's Pipestone Reservation.[275] An appropriation of $30,000 was requested and $25,000 was approved. The Bureau of Indian Affairs took 100 acres of the reservation land to build the Pipestone Indian Industrial School adjacent to the Pipestone Quarry. The Yankton people long contested that loss and won before the Supreme Court years later. It was one of the BIA's 25 non-reservation boarding schools and amongst the last to be closed. When the school opened the majority of native Americans in Minnesota were Ojibwa and they dominated the school's enrollment throughout it's history. The school had grades 1-8 with a split curriculum, mornings and afternoon groups switching: academics and occupation skills. The school fielded both girls and boys sports teams[276] [277] [278] Post WWI, the Pipestone student body became more diverse, but White-Earth remained the primary source of students until the school closed. Attendance was voluntary and by application. The School superintendent made visits to reservations both in and outside Minnesota to recruit students. The circumstances for the attendance of orphans at the school are not published. In 1952, last year the school was supposed to be open, over 300 students wanted to attend, however due to budget reductions only 130 from Minnesota were accepted. Post WWII newspapers portray the school's secondary tasking as an orphanage.[279] [280] Leaders of the Chippewa were against closing Pipestone School until something could be done to place the kids in permanent situations.[281] 

Despite it's location on the Yankton Pipestone reservation it was considered an off-reservation school because their was no resident population.

1891 The Yankton tribe filed a complaint that the school would be placed on the Yankton Pipestone reservation not adjacent to it.[282][283]

1893 The Pipestone Superintendent passed through Marshall, MN with three groups of kids. Two were from White-Earth and Mille-Lacs. The third were Sioux he brought via St Paul.[284]

1894 the Avoca Catholic boarding school for Indian girls closed. The students were transferred to Pipestone and Flandreau after permission was received from the parents.[285]

1895 The Superintendents of the Indian schools at Pipestone and Pierre S.D. both went to White-Earth looking to enroll students. Pipestone got 8 or 9.[286]

1897 Six bright students were escorted back to the Rosebud Agency when classes ended in the Spring [287] In the Fall it was reported 67 Ojibwa children from the Detroit Lakes area were enroute to Pipestone.[288][289]

1899  C.J. Crandall, the first Superintendent of Pipestone, wrote that the legends surrounding the red Pipestone were mostly the creations of the "white man".[290][291]

1900 Congress considered buying the Pipestone Reservation[292]

1901 Pipestone's students won 12 bronze medals in Agricultural Products at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.[293][294]

1902 School enrollment reported at 135 mostly Chippewa.[295][289]

1904 Bids were solicited to provide 35,000 pounds of beef for the school. The desired cuts were specified as well as what would be rejected.[296]

1905 The White-Earth Tomahawk reported the Pipestone School matron, Miss Roy, returned for the new school year accompanied by many White Earth students.[297] White Earth Chief William Madison was the Boys Advisor at Pipestone.[298]

1906 The first 3 students to graduate at Pipestone were Clem Fairbanks, Willie Coffey, and Willie McIntosh from White-Earth. In 1906 enrollment was 215.[299]

1908 the BIA prohibited non-reservation school superintendents from going to reservations and recruiting students.[300] The head of the BIA felt too much money was being spent on the training programs at the non-reservation schools and that they should have the same curriculums as public schools.

1912 the students began publishing a school newspaper that some claim make it the first indigenous newspaper in the country.[301] However, The Oglala Light began publishing at the Oglala Indian Training School in Pine Ridge, South Dakota in 1900.

ca. 1914 Two girls displaying a large example of Ojibwa beadwork at Pipestone.[302]

1915 Congress Approbations for the Minnesota Chippewa: Pipestone School $51,725, $4,000 support of the Chippewa school of the Mississippi bands. A request was made to reserve the mineral rights of all tribal land taken by the whites. Another provision was made for a welfare payment be authorized for any tribal member that was destitute, ill, or incapacitated.[303]

1916 The BIA allocated Indian schools $167/student while PITS was spending $224/student[304] In 1914 the boys made the Tri-state Indian school championship.[305]

1918 School enrollment reported at 165: Chippewa 75, Sioux 55, Winnebago 19, Omaha 19.[289] During commencement PITS displayed a service banner with 35 stars for former students in uniform for WWI.[306]

1927 school enrollment was 340 the school's maximum, many applications were turned down[307]

1927 The school boyscouts preformed Longfellow's Song of Hiawatha for the first time.  It became a annual school activity that was later adopted as a community activity. A Charles Morrison was a student from 1910- 1924 who later returned as a teacher.  He was helped later, non-native, preformers learn the correct pronunciation of the Ojibwa words used in the play. (Pipestone Administrative History NM, Chapter VIII, NPS 2025,  https://www.nps.gov/parkhistory/online_books/pipe/adhi8.htm )

1930 school enrollment was 315. 375.In 1930 the football team went 7-3 scoring 220 pts vs. their opponents 72. It was notable as almost all their opponents were High schools and Pipestone only went to the 9th grade. The team represented 11 tribes: Chippewa 5, Sioux 5, Gros Ventre 2, Akira 2, Sac-Fox 2, Winnebago 1, Omaha, 1, Oneida 1, and Cheyenne 1. The toughest game was against the Flandreau Indian School team.[308]

In 1932 Pipestone had it's largest enrollment. That year a Hospital was built on the school campus.[309] The building was demolished in 1999.

1940 Applications for enrollment far exceeded school capacity with many turned down to get to the preferred number of 320.

1936  Adam Fortunate Eagle Nordwall and his four brothers arrived from Red Lake and state that enroolment was 136. He also states that 54 of those student entered military service for WWII and that the school prepared them for it. .https://www.pipestonestar.com/articles/band-of-warriors/

1941 The boys basketball team made the news. It was reported that they had won a tournament two years running and were returning. They were noted for defeating the opposition routinely by 15-25 points. Because of this they had to travel over 100 miles to play teams they would or could compete with them.[310]

1947 enrollment demographics and costs per student reported. [311]

1948 the BIA proposed closing all Indian schools. The people of Pipestone said all the other schools could close except Pipestone. Because of the historical significance of the adjoining Pipestone Reservation, it should be exempted. In 1948 the Minnesota Welfare Board insisted that the Pipestone Indian School remain. The governor of Minnesota wrote numerous letters that "many of these children have no homes, no family's, or places to go". [312] That year the school and hospital closures were put off for a year.[313]

1948 Was the last year the School put on the Song of Hiawatha play due to the pending closure. The local community assumed production in 1949.

1949 The school had nearly 400 applications but only 125 were accepted due to reduced funding. Most of those were year round residents. They did not have homes to return to during summer because they were orphans.[314] That year Minnesota U.S. Senator H.H. Humphrey made efforts on behalf of keeping Pipestone open. Le Sueur News-Herald, Mar. 9, 1949, Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub, 2024, MNHS, St. Paul MN [244]. Communities throughout Minnesota and South Dakota opposed the closing of the Indian School and the Hospital.[315]

In 1952 $135,000 was authorized to fund Pipestone's a last year of operations. That figure equals $1,582,819.32 in 2024 dollars or $12,662/student for 125 students.

1953 the School was scheduled for closure however, $250,000 was appropriated for the 1953-54 school year. The Indian Bureau diverted $72,000 of that money for the Minnesota foster care program for the placement of Pipestone students. The Bureau was ordered to  return the monies as well as any Pipestone students it had placed.[316]  The Chippewa opposed the closing of the Pipestone school[317][318]

*   1953 Termination Act: House Concurrent Resolution 108 (H. Con. Res. 108), passed August 1, 1953, declared it to be the sense of Congress that it should be policy of the United States  government to abolish federal supervision over American Indian Tribes as soon as possible and to subject the Indians to the same laws, privileges, and responsibilities as other U.S.citzens. This includes an end to reservations and tribal sovereignty, integrating Native Americans into mainstream American society.

☆  The solution to the closing of Pipestone was placing the kids in the Foster Home Program.

☆  A student's opinion of Pipestone and "The Writings of Ward Churchill Fulsome and Inflammatory", The Ojibwe News, June 10, 2005, p. 4,5, Minnesota Digital Newspaper Hub, 2024, MNHS, St. Paul MN [245]

☆  PITS, Keeping Victimhood in Perspective, Chuck Trimble, Feb. 25, 2012 Indian Country Today, [246]

☆  Adam Fortunate Eagle Nordwall of the Red Lake Nation with four brothers attended Pipestone. With 8 kids to raise his mother saw Pipestone as a way to solve her situation. Adam credits Pipstone with giving him the training he and his bothers needed to be prepared for military service during WWII.

 https://www.pipestonestar.com/articles/band-of-warriors/

☆  In 1929 the US Army turned over to the BIA 3000 Krag rifles with bayonets, scabbards, and ammunition belts for military training at boarding schools.   

Evening Star, March 08, 1928, p.6, LOC, https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1928-03-08/ed-1/seq-6/#date1=1756&index=0&rows=20&words=Army+boarding+Indian+schools&search

 ☆  The History of Native American Boarding Schools Is Even More Complicated than a New Report Reveals, Olivia Waxman, Time Magazine, May 17,, 2022, https://time.com/6177069/american-indian-boarding-schools-history/

In 1855 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow places the Chippewa at Pipestone in his Song of Hiawatha. He wrote "Here Gitche Manitou called all the tribes together".

2008 Was the last year the Song of Hiawatha was preformed at Pipestone ending what the students started over 70 years earlier.

Chief William Madison made the newspapers after his tenure at PITS. In 1940 he held a press conference with the media concerning the failure of the State to erect monuments acknowledging significant Chippewa history,[319] A decade later, in 1950, he ran for the office of State Senator for Minneapolis.[320]

PIPESTONE STUDENT FILES 1910 -1954  ARE AVAILABLE AT: National Archives at Kansas City, 2025, https://www.archives.gov/kansas-city/finding-aids/pipestone-students.html  (RECORD GROUP 75) IS SUPPOSE TO CONTAIN THE YEARS 1894-1910.  Direct questions to:   
kansascity.archives@nara.gov 

 Longfellow is forever linked to the Chippewa by his 1855 "The Song of Hiawatha".  It is an epic poem that launched his career. It became a part of 8th grade english across the U.S. for many years The main male character is the Chippewa warrior Hiawatha who is linked to  the legend of Nanabozho.  In the Song of Hiawatha Longfellow used  a large number of Ojibwa words to give authenticity to his sterotyped characters.  With a student population primarily Dacotah and Chippewa the Pipestone Indian School boyscouts made the poem a scout production in 1927.  It became an annual school project that engaged the local community. It grew to become a regional event that the community continued long after Pipestone closed. 

In Michigan Chief George Kabaosa of the Garden River band and, grandson of Chief Shingwaukonse  made a stage adaptation  of the poem.  The  tribe first preformed in 1901. Their preformances were popular and  went international, with shows in  Boston, Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Detroit, London, Portsmouth, Amsterdam, and Antwerp.  They also preformed for 20,000 people per night for two weeks at the Toronto Exhibition in 1937. "The Song of Hiawatha", SOOTODAY.COM , 2020 https://www.sootoday.com/columns/remember-this/the-song-of-hiawatha-2147109.  From 1905-10 the G.R.& I. R.R. funded and advertised the play at Round Lake, Michigan to promote tourists to see the native American production. They hired  Canadian Louis O. Armstrong who worked with Ojibwa from the Garden River Reserve in Ontario. In 2015 the Michigan Historical Commission erected a marker to commerate the history. (Marker # 736.) 

It was from this work that the Milwaukee Railroad choose the name for it's "Hiawatha" trains. The "Hiawatha's" served mainlines and were in the everyday vernacular. They ran the mainline from Chicago to St. Paul and the Hiawatha Olympian went to Seattle. Hiawatha's provided service on railroad's  Chippewa Valley Line in Wisconsin also. When the railrod updated service to Milwaukee they choose to name the service "Chippewa" for Hiawatha's heritage. It was later changed to Chippewa Hiawatha. But when the railroad went out of business the name did not die. Today's Amtrak still has a "Hiawatha" named for Longfellow's fictional Chippewa warrior.

The artist Frederic Remington created illustrations for the 1891 deluxe edition of Longfellow's The Song of Hiawatha. He did a series of black-and-white oil paintings for each of the poem's cantos. He also did many smaller illustrations and designs for the page margins reflecting the Native American content. Other famous artists that did their versions were  Maxfield Parrish; N.C. Wyeth.