Ho-Chunk School Site on the Turkey River Reserve
The Turkey River School served nearly 250 children and adults in the 1840s on the Turkey river Reserve. The children learned to read and writing, and life skills such as clothing making and cooking.
For adults, the purpose was to impress American agricultural practices on the Ho-Chunk people. Fields were plowed and planted to demonstrate these techniques and practices. This schooling ended when the Ho-Chunk people were forced to relocate to Long Prairie, Minnesota in June of 1848, as settlers demanded more land for farming.
Turkey River Reserve Sketch by Geologist of Wisconsin, 1847. Sacred Hill in the Background.
References:
Hoffman, Matthias. The Winnebago Mission: A Cause Celebre. Chicago: Illinois Catholic Historical Society, July 1930, Vol. XIII, pages 26-52.
Ronald Rayman, “The Winnebago Indian School Experiment in Iowa Territory: 1834-1848“, The Annals of Iowa, pages 359-387.
Schenkelberg, Sister Mary Matilda, Fort Atkinson and the Catholic Frontier of Iowa: The Evolution of the Catholic Indian Mission into a Parish Unit 1842-1942. Washington, DC: The Catholic University of America, 1947. Master’s Dissertation, 82 pages.
Smith, John Philip. The Struggle for Control of the Government School Among the Winnebago Indians, 1835-1850. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1942. Master’s dissertation, 66 page
Map of Turkey River Reserve buildings.
Map of Winnebago Fields on the Turkey River Reserve
