Tullahassee Mission Site facts for kids

The Tullahassee Mission was an important school and mission. It was started by the Presbyterian church on March 1, 1850. A man named Reverend Robert Loughridge founded it. The mission was first built for the Muscogee Creek Native American people. Later, after a big fire, the Muscogee Creeks moved away. They gave the mission to the Creek Freedmen. These were people of African descent who had been freed from slavery.

History

At first, the Muscogee Creek Native Americans did not want missionaries or schools. But they saw the good work of the Koweta Mission. Because of this, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation agreed to let another mission be built. This new mission would be northwest of Muskogee.

The Muscogee Creeks agreed to pay one-fifth of the cost. The Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions would pay the rest. Reverend Loughridge picked the spot for Tullahassee Mission. He bought 70 acres (about 28 hectares) of land from Thomas Marshall.

A large, three-story brick building was built there. It was made to hold 80 students. The school opened in 1850. For the next 20 years, it was a boarding school. It taught both "full-blooded" and "mixed-blood" Muscogee students. When the school first opened, 80 students were admitted. Most of them were full-blood Creek Native Americans.

In December 1880, a fire badly damaged the main building. The Muscogee Creek Council decided to move their boarding school for Muscogee children to a new place. They offered the old school and its 100-acre (about 40-hectare) plot to the Creek freedmen. This was so their children could have a school. The council also paid to rebuild the main building that had burned down.

The school reopened in 1883. It was called the Tullahassee Manual Labor School. It received more money from the Baptist Home Mission Society.

On October 24, 1881, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation moved all Muscogee children to another school. This was the Wealaka Mission. They then gave the old mission building to the Creek freedmen. The Tullahassee Manual Labor School was the only school for freedmen that stayed open. This happened after the U.S. government ended the Muscogee Creek Nation's institutions in 1906.

Ownership of the school then went to the U.S. Department of the Interior. In 1914, they sold it to Wagoner County, Oklahoma. In 1916, the African Methodist Episcopal Church started Flipper Davis College. This college moved into the old mission building. At that time, it became the only private school for African Americans in Oklahoma. The college closed at the end of the 1935 school year.