Volume 9 , Issue 35

Downtown Shawnee's History

"Shawnee is a thriving city and an excellent example of many Main Street communities that emerged in the late 19th century as part of the westward movement.

The area surrounding Shawnee was settled after the Civil War by a number of Native American Tribes including the Sac and Fox, Shawnee, Kickapoo, and Potawatomi. During the 1870s, Texas cattle drivers pushed their herds through Indian Territory along four major trails. One, the West Shawnee Trail, which crossed where the present day Kickapoo and Main Streets are located.

With the cattle drives, came the railroads and pressure to establish a permanent white settlement in Indian Territory. Consequently, in 1871, a Quaker Mission was established near the current Mission Hill Hospital. A small structure, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, remains in place as a reminder. The first missionary, John Newsome, opened a school at the Mission in 1872. By 1876, a Post Office and Trading Post were established a quarter mile west of the mission at what later became known as Shawnee Town....." -- About Downtown Shawnee
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