Stewart Indian School

About this property

The Stewart Indian School (1890–1980) was an American Indian boarding school southeast of Carson City, Nevada. Today, it is the Stewart Indian School Cultural Center and Museum. The school's 110-acre campus still holds 65 original buildings. The buildings are noted for the masonry work of colored local stone used by student apprentices to build the vernacular-style buildings. The school, part of the Native American boarding schools project, was the only off-reservation boarding school in Nevada. Funding for the school was obtained by Nevada's first (of two) United States Senator (1865-1875), and former California Attorney General, of William M. Stewart (1827-1909), shortly after the federal Nevada Territory (1861-1864) was admitted to the federal Union as the 36th state in 1864, during the American Civil War (1861-1865), and it was named in his honor when it first opened on December 17, 1890. It has also been known as the Stewart Institute, Carson Industrial School, and Carson Indian School during its 90 years history. Native American children from Nevada and later throughout the West were forced to attend the Stewart Institute up to secondary school age. The initial intent of the school was to eliminate Indian language and culture from the children, to provide them with trade skills, and to make them fully American. Students during the early years were harshly disciplined and acted as unpaid labor to maintain the institution. The school struggled and some superintendents only lasted less than a year. In 1919, Frederick Snyder was put in charge and he turned the floundering school into an architectural and horticultural showplace. The children were prohibited until about 1934 by the school's then assimilation policies from using or learning about their native language and culture. After the landmark policy-changing federal legislation of the Indian Reorganization Act (a.k.a. Wheeler-Howard Act) of 1934, passed by the United States Congress during the new presidential administration of 32nd President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945, served 1933-1945), then under the new changing philosophy and policies under the Democratic Party's more liberal and progressive attitudes with FDR's "New Deal" programs, Alida Cynthia Bowler became Director of the Carson Indian School and Reservations. She defended the Indians' interests against the federal government's and its Bureau of Indian Affairs ongoing occasional desire to usurp their ownership of land and supported retention of Indian culture among the students and their home tribes.. Finally almost a century later by 1980, the modern United States federal government under the presidential administration of Jimmy Carter (1924–2024, served 1977–1981), with continuing major policy and cultural attitudes changing in majority white / caucasian European American society, the Carter administration cut funding nationwide for Indian boarding schools and closed the Stewart School of Carson City campus. During its 90 years of history, about 30,000 native American students are believed to have attended the school in Nevada.

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Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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