Stewart Indian School Oral History Project Records

The Stewart Indian School opened on December 17, 1890 as a federal commitment to pursue Native American education in Nevada. Located three miles southeast of Carson City, the school grounds encompassed 240 acres. The first class included 37 students from local Washoe, Paiute, and Shoshone tribes and three teachers.

In 1888, the Nevada Legislature passed a bill authorizing the sale of bonds to purchase land for an Indian boarding school. Once purchased, the legislature conveyed the land to the Bureau of Indian Affairs, who established the boarding school to train and educate Indian children with the ultimate goal of assimilation. The campus opened with a capacity for 100 students and included a Victorian-style wood framed dormitory and schoolhouse. As enrollment increased, the school constructed new buildings, including shops for training, a hospital, and a recreation room. By 1906, the Virginia and Truckee Railroad establish a stop to deliver supplies and facilitate the transportation of students to and from the school. By 1919, 400 students attended the school. During the next 16 years, students learning stone masonry from their teachers, including Hopi stonemasons, constructed over 60 native stone buildings.

Student curriculum included classes in reading, writing, and arithmetic but focused on vocational training in various trades, agriculture, and the service industry. Classes offered for boys included ranching and farming, mechanics, woodworking, painting, and carpentry, while girls attended classes in baking, cooking, sewing, laundry, and practical nursing. Many of the school’s basic needs were supplied by students’ products or fulfilled by their newly acquired skills. Vocational training remained the school’s principal focus until a shift to academics occurred in the late 1960s. The school closed in 1980 due to federal budget cuts and earthquake safety issues with the masonry buildings.

The State of Nevada acquired the campus through several transactions during the 1990’s and is now used by the State for classes, training, and agency offices, including the Nevada Indian Commission, which is located in the former Superintendent’s home. The Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California established the Stewart Community on much of the former school’s land where they also occupy some of the buildings. The school is listed on the National Registrar of Historic Places and is working to establish the Stewart Indian Cultural Center in the former Administration Building. Memorabilia from the former school is displayed at the Nevada State Museum’s Under One Sky exhibit.

In May 2015, the Nevada 150 Foundation awarded the Nevada Indian Commission a $20,000 grant as part of the yearlong celebration of Nevada's founding and legacy project. The grant was used to hire Terri McBride, owner of Community Past, to complete in-depth oral histories with former students and employees of the school.

[Information on the history of the Stewart Indian School is taken from the Stewart Indian School website.]