On Tuesday we visited the Genoa Indian School and the museum. Did you know that Genoa is considered the Pawnee Capital of Nebraska? I didn’t know this either. Apparently, during the mid 19th century the Pawnee were gathered here and Genoa became the site of their reservation. At one time there were 30,000 Pawnee in the county.In the late 1870s the Pawnee were having many issues with the area and moved to another location.

but in 1884 the government opened the Genoa Indian School. The school was open for 50 years. We visited one of the buildings that still remains. There seemed to be a wide range of thoughts and emotions about the school. It was government funded and had the money for  electricity and running water at a time when the town of Genoa did not and the school taught many trade-oriented skills. At the same time the students were far from their home and their family and tribes.

There are indeed many stories to be told about the Pawnee as well as the Genoa Indian School and I appreciated the time the local historians spent to tell just a piece of that rich story.