Sacred Heart Mission, 5 Miles Northwest of Konawa, and 3 Miles North of State Highway 39 between Asher and Konawa, Konawa

Source document Quoted word for word from HALS OK-27. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Sacred Heart Mission was the first Catholic Mission, monastery, convent, and Pottowatamie Indian School in Indian Territory. It served as the center for other missionary activities throughout all of Indian Territory. The mission was also the place of origin for current-day St. Gregory's University in Shawnee, Oklahoma. The site's ruins provide an excellent example of the way typical Catholic missions were arranged in the late This vernacular landscape is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is a designated Oklahoma Landmark.

History: Sacred Heart Mission began in when Right Reverend Dom Isidore Robot and Dominic Lambert, monks of the French monastery of Notre Dame de la Pierre-qui-Vire, came from France and received permission and support from the Church in Rome and France to establish a mission outpost in Indian Territory. In the autumn of under the guidance of Robot, a series of buildings were erected on a tract of land provided by the Pottowatamie Indians near present-day Konawa, Oklahoma. Located four miles south of the South Canadian River in a heavily forested valley, the site was established just west of an area locally known as Bald Hill.

Joseph Moulaupt, a farmer from Missouri came to the Mission in and directed the planting of orchards, vineyards, vegetable gardens, and established grain production operations. He also instituted a system for raising livestock. The Mission's water supply came from two creeks that traverse the site. Out of necessity, the mission became a self sustaining entity. St. Mary's Abbey, a school for Indian girls was started in The same year the Sacred Heart Institute was opened as a boarding school for Indian boys. It operated until while the girls school closed in In Sacred Heart College was established, which relocated to the growing town of Shawnee, Oklahoma in and developed into St. Gregory's University.

Today, the existing buildings on site include a stone bakery, two log homes built in the late and a maintenance building constructed in the early In addition to the remaining structures, foundations for many of the original buildings are still visible. Parts of the orchards, vineyards, two cemeteries, and other landscape features are still present. A new church was built in on Bald Hill. It is still in use today. SACRED HEART MISSION HALS. OK-27 PAGE 2

Source document Quoted word for word from HALS OK-27. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Steve Eilers, December 24, West Stillwater, OK steve.eilers (alokstate.edu Dr. Charles Leider Professor and Director of the Landscape Architecture Program Horticulture and Landscape Architecture Department 360 AG Hall Stillwater, OK Office: charles.leiderfalokstate.edu SACRED HEART MISSION HALS. OK-27 PAGE 3 .. i-}i Sm -viWsSTrasB : "" ' wy-i.a jjjj.AyVy^^^^^^ Stone bakery (Steve Eilers, . -v^i, . .V tf / '^ fy&i!f ]* ^ - A *wi #/ + I- . ^ ^ .*. * '" Stone remnants of original church building (Steve Eilers,