Stewart Indian School: then and now

1905 vs 2012 · Carson City, NV

NowThen

Then, 1905American Indian students lined up in front of the school’s administration building in 1905. The date is the one listed on Wikimedia Commons.Photo: Unknown author · Public domain · Source · resized

Today, 2012A stone-and-timber building on the Stewart campus, It is not the same building as the 1905 photo. Photo taken in 2012.Photo: Barbmathers · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source · resized

The story

The Stewart Indian School opened on December 17, 1890 and closed in 1980. It was the only off-reservation Indian boarding school in Nevada, and it was named for Senator William M. Stewart.

Children came first from Nevada tribes and later from many across the West. For decades they were pressed to give up their languages and cultures, and early on they worked without pay to keep the school running.

Most of the 65-plus historic buildings were put up between about 1922 and 1942, with students learning masonry and using multicolored local stone. The campus is now a National Historic District and the Stewart Indian School Cultural Center & Museum.

Did you know? The campus covers about 110 acres and still has more than 65 historic buildings.

Historians argue about this. The 1905 photo shows an administration building, while the “Now” photo shows a different campus building, so this is not the same view. Different people remember the boarding school years very differently.

Fact or tall tale?

SolidThe Stewart Indian School closed in 1980.
Wikipedia and Visit Carson City both give 1890 to 1980.
Not trueStudents were encouraged to speak their own languages when the school opened.
Early on, children could be punished for speaking their native languages, and that did not ease until policy changes in the 1930s.

Sources

More: Look for historic photos at the Library of Congress

Stamp it in person

Go there, answer the question that only someone standing at Stewart Indian School can answer, and add the stamp to your passport. Free, no sign-up.

Play Carson City

More in Carson City

Next: Nevada State Railroad Museum. Written from the cited sources, not yet walked on site unless noted.