October 11, 2023
 

Fort Totten Indian Boarding School National Register Nomination Update

The National Park Service has awarded the State Historical Society of North Dakota a $50,770 Underrepresented Communities Grant to update the Fort Totten State Historic Site National Register Nomination to include the site’s Indian boarding school era. The Underrepresented Communities Grant is funded by the Historic Preservation Fund and managed by the National Park Service.

Fort Totten State Historic Site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, with the nomination focused heavily on the site’s military history. From 1867 to 1890, the fort served as a military post. Decommissioned in 1890, it became property of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in 1891 and served as an Indian boarding school until 1935. From 1935 until 1939, it served as a tuberculosis preventorium run by the federal government. When this program was discontinued, the site focused again on education as a community and day School for the Spirit Lake Reservation. With more input and control assumed by reservation tribal leaders over time. The Fort Totten Indian Industrial School closed in 1959, and Fort Totten became a state historic site in 1960.

The State Historical Society will hire a consultant to update the National Register nomination. The agency, in consultation with the local tribes, will conduct geophysical survey of the site in preparation for the update. 

For more information, contact Grants and Contracts Officer Amy Munson at 701.328.3573 or email amunson@nd.gov.

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CONTACT
Amy Munson, 701.328.3573

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