Thomas Indian School

New York, United States

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Thomas Indian School, located near Irving at the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in Erie County, New York, is a historic American Indian boarding school and national historic district. Established in 1855 by Presbyterian missionaries Asher and Laura Wright under federal assimilation policies, the institution was initially funded and named for Rochester philanthropists Philip and Mary Thomas. The campus's original wooden structures were replaced in 1900–1901 with a substantial complex designed by the New York City architectural firm Barney and Chapman; the surviving buildings feature red brick Georgian Revival styling for the main structures, complemented by auxiliary farm and vocational buildings in Gothic Revival stone. At least 2,500 children from various tribes were forcibly separated from their families and subjected to harsh discipline and cultural suppression during the school's operation. The campus closed in 1957 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. Today it serves as home to Seneca Nation governmental and health facilities, including elder housing and a court building housed in the former infirmary.

Movement

Georgian architecture

Type: school, school building, American Indian boarding school
Heritage: National Register of Historic Places listed place
Place: New York, United States

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Location

42.53944, -78.99667