U.S. Government Pay Station in St. Marys

St. Marys Historical Society

Pay Station & Museum Complex

The Indian Pay Station Agency was established in St. Marys in 1857.  A report by the Indian Agent, W.W. Ross in July of 1861, described the Station as a stone house of one story, 18 by 30 feet, with a frame lean-to on the north side.  The lean-to was about 13 by 30 with a long stable which was rotting away.  The two yards contained about two acres enclosed with decaying fence rails.

About 10 years later a reporter for the Daily Kansas State Record described the payment made to the Potawatomie:

The scene at St. Marys Mission was probably one of the most utterly forlorn, dismal, and miserable spectacles ever witnessed.  It has been raining, and the one long street of St. Marys, which is as yet innocent of sidewalks, was a swamp, trodden into black, slimy stickiness and nastiness by the feet of men and horses.

The place of payment was the old government agency, near the Catholic mission buildings.  The building is a one-story edifice, built of stone, and once made some pretensions to comfort and taste, but the picket fence has been broken down, the fancy cornice is destitute of paint, and the premises generally bear an air of decay.

The two low, dirty smoky rooms were devoted to the business of payment.  In one of them, the paymaster has his station.  The other room was occupied by the paymaster's clerk, the interpreter and the lieutenant in command of the guard of men from Fort Riley; the rest of the space was occupied by the white men, traders and others having demands against the Indians.  Louis Vieux, familiarly called "Uncle Louis Vieux," stood in the doorway acting in the capacity of marshal, crier, and sentry.

The name of the person to be paid was read from the various rolls by various persons, till it finally reached Mr. Vieux who sang it out from the door, with a long, loud, and exceedingly bitter cry, and with a fearful accent on the last syllable; after which the person called for, if present and sober, appeared and received his or her share.

Another report from a Dr. Nicholson, a Quaker appointed by the government to observe the event also paints a picture of the event: 

Most of them deposit their money with the bankers who are here from Topeka, as it is unsafe for them to keep it themselves - there are thieves, pickpockets, and robbers waiting for their opportunity - there are many saloons and gambling houses, the counterfeit money men, ready to change money for the Indians and pass off their spurious bills.  Many of the Indians receive large amounts and many $100 bills; some families as much $5,000.

Chronological History

Of St. Marys, Kansas

v     1846:  According to the terms of the "Treaty with the Potawatomie Nation," ratified April 15, a tract of land containing 576,000 acres, being 30 miles square, was granted to the three bands of the tribe:  the Potawatomie of the Woods, The Mission Band, and the Prairie Band, for their new reservation.

v     1848:  In September, Jesuit priests, Fathers Verreydt, Gailand, and Hoecken came with the Indians from Linn country to open a mission on the new reservation.  With them were five Sisters of the Sacred Heart, who opened a school for Indian girls.

Iron Cross from Mission 

v     1849:  Gold was discovered;  gold seekers passed through St. Marys on their way to California, following John Fremont's Oregon Trail Road.

v     1854:  The Kansas-Nebraska Bill was signed by President Pierce, making Kansas a territory of the United States, and opening it for settlement.   The log church cathedral at St. Marys Mission received from Rome a painting of Renaissance art.  The painting now hangs in the present - or third edifice.

v     1855:  Homesteaders began arriving by covered wagon, stagecoach ($5.00 from Leavenworth to St. Marys), and by steamboat from Westport Landing, now Kansas City.  Dr. Luther R. Palmer, government physician to the Indians was named delegate to the Kansas Territorial Legislature.

v     1857:  Pottawatomie County is organized by act of the Territorial Legislature on February 23, and Louisville was named the county seat.  Pottawatomie County Indian Agency was established with William Ross as the agent.

v     1860:  Charles Curtis, later a vice-president of the United States, was baptized by a priest from the St. Marys Mission.

v     1861:  Kansas Statehood bill signed by President Buchanan signed on January 29th.

v     1861:  On November 15th, under terms of a treaty made and concluded at the Potawatomie Agency at Cross Creek, now Rossville, the Mission and Woods bands of the tribe elected to become citizens of the United States, and to receive payment of $685.43 each for their allotment of land.  The Prairie Band elected to hold their lands in common, and the Jackson County reservation was created.  The surplus land was then made available to the railroads at $1.25 an acre;  the right was sold to the Leavenworth, Pawnee, and Western Railroad (later the Union Pacific, Eastern Division).  In 1868,  however, the Santa Fe took up the LP&W tracts through a treaty in which the Indians received only $1.00 per acre.

v     1867:  St. Marys main street named Bertrand Avenue in honor of B.H. Bertrand.

v     1869:  The City of St. Marys was granted a charter, and Alva Higbee was elected the first Mayor.  By this time, the Prairie Potawatomie are firmly established in Mayetta, and many others have left this area.  And the Mission trade school is now St. Marys College, receiving its charter from the Kansas State Legislature in May.

Cross from Mission Church 

v     1870:  At the end of October, Paymaster Williamson began the long awaited payment to the Mission and Woods Bands of the Potawatomie totaling about $500,000.  The first newspaper - The St. Marys Star - appeared with John O'Flanagan as editor.  The Congregational Church is organized, with the Bible Baptist congregation currently using the building erected by the Congregationalist in 1886.

v     1872:  The Lutheran Church is organized.  The Methodist congregation organized, building their church building in 1882.   The iron bridge across the Kansas River was opened for traffic.  It proved a great asset to the thriving community as well as to the new settlers on the south side of the river.

v     1874:  The first stone Catholic church is erected, but it burned in December of 1879.  The present church was constructed in 1881.

v     1875:  The great grasshopper invasion and the first Corpus Christi Procession in supplication for relief from the plague. 

v     1880:  Immigrant Aid Societies bring the first large groups of European immigrants to America.  The federal census lists St. Marys population at 884.

v     1881:  Four Sisters of Charity arrived from Leavenworth to launch the parochial school system.

v     1882:  First A.B. degrees awarded to three graduates of St. Marys College.

v     1886-1896:  The decade of the melting pot.  Immigrants from Ireland, Germany, Belgium, France, Sweden, Bohemia, Russia, and England took out citizenship papers and established homes and businesses in St. Marys.

v     1909:  Immaculata Chapel dedicated by the Jesuits.

v     1923:  World War I Memorial Arch dedicated to the sons of St. Mary's College.  Financed by the alumni of St. Mary's College to honor the over 700 college alumni who served in WWI and the 19 who gave their lives.  The first American officer to die in France was Lt. William T. Fitzsimmons who graduated with the St. Mary's College class of 1906.

v     1930-31:  St. Mary's College closes because of the Great Depression.  The final year of the college enrolled 166 high school students and 188 college students.

v     1931:  St. Mary's College became the Jesuit Seminary which operated until is closes in 1967.

v     1969:  St. Marys Historical Society formed.

v     1978:  The Society of Pius X purchases the college property for a traditional Catholic church and school.  On November 8th of 1978 the Immaculata Chapel is destroyed by fire.

v     1983:  St. Marys Historical Society is reorganized.

v     1987:  Dedication of the barn on the grounds of the St. Marys Historical Society.

v     2003-2005:  Construction of a new building to house some of the holdings of the Historical Society with ground broken in 2003, construction completed in 2004, and the dedication of the Heritage Center in September of 2005.

Membership in the St. Marys Historical Society

Dues per year:  $5.00 for individual membership.  Family membership $10.00.  A lifetime membership is available for $100.

Picture Gallery  for the St. Marys Historical Society