OSAGE CATHOLIC MISSION

THIS MISSION WAS FOUNDED IN 1847 FOR OSAGE INDIANS LIVING ALONG THE NEOSHO AND VERDIGRIS RIVERS. A MANUAL LABOR SCHOOL FOR BOYS WAS ESTABLISHED BY THE JESUITS AND A DEPARTMENT FOR GIRLS BY THE SISTERS OF LORETTO. HIGHEST RECORDED ENROLLMENT WAS 239. IN 1848 THE FIRST CATHOLIC CHURCH IN SOUTHERN KANSAS WAS BUILT. DURING THE CIVIL WAR WHEN PROPERTY WAS LAID WASTE THROUGHOUT THE BORDER THE MISSION WAS ALWAYS SPARED AND SCHOOL WAS NEVER SUSPENDED. WHEN THE OSAGES MOVED TO INDIAN TERRITORY IN 1870 WHITE CHILDREN GRADUALLY REPLACED THE INDIANS. THE SCHOOL BECAME ST. FRANCIS INSTITUTION FOR BOYS AND ST. ANN'S ACADEMY FOR GIRLS. ST. FRANCIS CLOSED IN 1891 AND ST. ANN'S WAS DESTROYED BY FIRE IN 1895. NOTABLE IN SERVICE HERE WERE MOTHER BRIDGET HAYDEN AND FATHERS JOHN SCHOENMAKERS, JOHN BAX AND PAUL MARY PONZIGLIONE, THE LATTER AN ITALIAN NOBLEMAN. A TOWN, OSAGE MISSION, ORGANIZED IN 1867, BECAME ST. PAUL IN 1895.