Cansayapi Cultural Department You Tube Video
The Tribal Historical Preservation Office (THPO) is the individual with the duty to carry forth the THPO program and to ensure that the Section 101(b)(2) responsibilities assumed by the Lower Sioux Indian Community are accomplished.
The THPO will complete annual directives with regard to the evaluation, nomination and protection of properties eligible for inclusion to the National Register of Historic Places. Not only those resources listed on the National Register, but also those eligible or possibly eligible are to be considered. 36 CFR Part 800 is the implementing regulation for Section 106, and will be referred to and adhered by the THPO during all steps in this process.- Implement some or all of the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) responsibilities with respect to tribal land.
- Coordinate with tribal departments and program to ensure the preservation and protection of cultural and physical artifacts and resources directly associated with the people of Lower Sioux.
Charged with identifying and protecting historic properties and burial sites.
Provides a voice for the tribe on their cultural, sacred, burial sites within the boundaries of the reservation.
Lower Sioux Agency Historic Site Information
Hours of Operation
- OPEN MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND THRU FIRST WEEKEND IN OCTOBER
- Friday 12:00pm-7:00pm
- Saturday & Sunday 10am-5pm
- Open Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day, 10:00 am- 5:00pm
- Visitor Center Closed second weekend in June for Wacipi
Phone: 507-697-8674
Phone: 507-697-6321
Fax: 507-697-6310
Location:
32469 Redwood County Highway 2
Morton, MN 56270
Admission Rates:
- Adults $6
- Seniors & College Students $5
- Children ages 5-17 $4
- Free for children age 4 and under and MNHS members and Lower Sioux Community Members
In 2007, the Lower Sioux Indian Community began managing the site through a cooperative agreement between the tribe and the Minnesota Historical Society. The Lower Sioux Agency was established in 1853 by the U.S. government to serve as administrative center for government efforts to remove the Bdewakantunwan and Wahpekute bands of Dakota to its reservation lands and to colonize them to become self-sufficient farmers. This reservation was just four percent of the land the Dakota previously inhabited.
As the United States drifted toward civil war, promises to the Dakota tribes were all but forgotten amidst the graft and corruption in the Indian service. Frustrated and provoked by a series of broken promises and by reservation policies that forced cultural change, Dakota warriors decided to go to war with the United States on a hot August Sunday in 1862. The fighting lasted six weeks and took the lives of nearly five hundred whites, mostly civilians, and an unknown but substantial number of Dakota.
To learn more about the U.S. Dakota War of 1862, visit the Lower Sioux Agency Historic Site and learn stories of the people who lived and worked here, the history of life and early settlement on the Minnesota River, and human impact of the environment.
Tribal Historical Preservation Office Contact
THPO/Site Manager- Cheyanne St. John
Phone: 507-697-6321
Email: cheyanne.stjohn@lowersioux.com