Modoc Mission Church

History of Native American Boarding and Mission Schools

The Modoc Friends Church, more widely known as Modoc Mission Church now represents the last standing building associated with the Modoc prisoners of war who were removed to Oklahoma after the 1873 Modoc War. During the Grant Administration, the government decided it would be easier to convert the Indians than it would be to exterminate them.

Many are unaware of the true horrors that occurred at the more than 526 Native boarding schools across the United States. Organizations like the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition (NABS) and Tribal communities near and far are aiming to shed light on the terrors and the intergenerational trauma that has followed.

Beginning with the Indian Civilization Act Fund of March 3, 1819 and the Peace Policy of 1869 the United States, in concert with and at the urging of several denominations of the Christian Church, adopted an Indian Boarding School Policy expressly intended to implement cultural genocide through the removal and reprogramming of American Indian and Alaska Native children to accomplish the systematic destruction of Native cultures and communities. The stated purpose of this policy was to “Kill the Indian, Save the Man.”

While the Federal Government established these boarding schools, they enlisted religious organizations like the Catholic, Methodist, Quaker, Episcopal and Presbyterian churches to run them. The institutions had Native children voluntarily or forcibly removed from their homes, families, and communities. Many were taken to schools states away without being able to contact their family.

The boarding schools were used to assimilate rather than “educate” hundreds of thousands of Native children. They were punished for speaking their Native language, banned from practicing their tradition or culture, stripped of traditional clothing, hair and personal belongings. They often suffered physical, sexual, cultural and spiritual abuse and neglect. In many cases and in the present defined law, many of the actions taken against these children would constitute torture. By 1926, more than 80% of Indigenous school-age children were attending boarding schools.

A Federal report released in 2024 discovered that at least 973 Indigenous children died in schools operated or supported by the federal government. But in a separate investigation and report released by the Washington Post in December 2024, they revealed at least 3,104 students had died in boarding schools across the U.S. A number three times that reported by the Federal government.

While the history of Native American boarding schools is overwhelmingly marked by trauma and cultural destruction, it’s important to acknowledge that some students did find positive aspects within their experiences. Many were able to learn vocational training in fields like carpentry, farming, and domestic skills. Students formed strong bonds with each other, creating lifelong friendships and their own communities, which is apparent in the annual reunions for many of these schools.

Native communities continue to face challenges stemming from the intergenerational trauma caused by the boarding school and systemic neglect. The lasting scar that the schools have left on individuals, families, communities, and tribal nations shows. The fight to save Tribal identity, language, traditions, and governance structures is an everlasting mission. These schools disrupted healthy development, fractured family systems, and weakened the cultural fabric of Tribal Nations.

Today, Native youth still experience severe disparities in health, education, and mental well-being. Suicide rates are alarmingly high, poverty is widespread, and graduation rates remain the lowest among all demographic groups—especially in Bureau of Indian Education schools. Despite legislative progress toward tribal self-determination, significant opportunity gaps persist. Without major increases in investment and support, these long-standing inequities will continue to threaten the future of Native youth and their communities.

“Sugarcane” is a 2024 documentary film that explores the history and impact of Canadian Indian residential schools, specifically focusing on the Sugarcane Reserve. The film follows a First Nations investigation into the abuse and deaths that occurred at a residential school, igniting a reckoning among survivors and their descendants. It highlights the resilience of Native communities and their struggle to break cycles of intergenerational trauma while bearing witness to painful truths. Watching this film was life-changing; it is one thing to read about these tragedies, another to watch them firsthand.

Modoc Friends Church/Modoc Mission Church 1883-1978

The Society of Friends, a group of Quaker missionaries, was one of the Protestant denominations chosen to guide Native Americans out of “barbarism”. After the Modoc War, 1872-1873, the Modoc Nation was removed from their homelands in Oregon to the northeastern part of present-day Oklahoma. It was here that the Society of Friends was tasked by the government to establish a school/church to assimilate the Modocs.

Upon their removal from Oregon, the Modoc Nation brought with them many of their people who were lost in the war. Leader Captain Jack led his people and his surviving warriors to the unknowns of Indian Territory (Oklahoma).

Here, a multi-use church and school, the Modoc Friends Church/Modoc Mission Church, was established by the Society of Friends. A cemetery for those lost in the war and those after was established.

The building was largely built by Modoc men who later attended with their families. The church is a rectangular shiplap structure. The front of the building was pierced by two portals, with a window between the two doors. The back of the building was provided with one door. The sides of the structure were provided with four windows, originally shuttered. The roof was originally covered with red cedar shingles, with one chimney and a bell situated toward the front of the building. The roof was also provided with studs to allow climbing access to the chimney and bell.

Three of Captain Jack’s warriors who had formerly been referred to as “blood thirsty and savage renegades” became recorded ministers of the Modoc Friends Church. Steamboat Frank, who later went by Frank Modoc, was the first Native to hold the position of pastor within the Society of Friends.

The building was originally at a different location than it is currently. The Society of Friends officially purchased the school/church from the government and moved the building to its present site in 1891.

The Society of Friends began an extensive renovation to enlarge the building to seven rooms to accommodate the missionary’s family and a meeting room seating 100 persons. The interior consisted of hardwood floors and plaster walls. An altar was at the front of the church, and the congregation sat on wooden pews. An organ was also provided and the Modoc Mission was lit by brass lamps. Services were conducted on Sunday, and prayer meetings on Wednesday night.

In 1909, it was approved that the Modoc prisoners of war could return to their homelands on the Klamath River Reservation. This left the need for the school services of the building unnecessary and it became just a church. The congregation dwindled to just eight by 1935 and didn’t get to be much more than that up to closure. Throughout the 1930s and ’40s, there were numerous ads placed in the paper for a revival of the church.

Regardless of the decline in attendance, a dedication of the church was held in 1960 after renovations were done. The ceilings, floors and pews had been worked on and back to pristine condition. Rev. Merle Roe of Wichita was the principal speaker with Rev. Larry Mardock the pastor of this church. Special music was performed by Mary and Jerry Louthan.

Closure and Restoration 1978

In the fall of 1978, the Society of Friends held the last meeting for worship in the church. That same year Modoc Nation was granted federal recognition. The achievement of the 1978 Federal Recognition once again made the Modoc Nation eligible for Federal assistance. An application was promptly forwarded to the Department of Housing and Urban Development to purchase the Modoc Mission Church and the four acres upon which it stands from the Society of Friends; and to restore the church to its original structure.

The Modoc Friends Church and Cemetery were placed on the National Register of Historic Sites in 1980, the first site so designated in Ottawa County, Oklahoma. Shortly thereafter, renovation of the church began. The dedication of the restored church was celebrated on June 10, 1984. In 1988, the Major William McBride Chapter, National Society United States Daughters of 1812, placed a historical marker at the church.

Gallery Below of Modoc Mission Church

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