Canton Indian Insane Asylum

43.181442°N 96.332791°W / 43.181442; -96.332791 The Canton Indian Insane Asylum, aka Hiawatha Insane Asylum, was a federal facility for Native Americans located in Canton, South Dakota, between 1898 and 1934.[1]

History

In 1898, Congress passed a bill creating the only 'Institution for Insane Indians' in the United States. The Canton Indian Insane Asylum (sometimes called Hiawatha Insane Asylum) opened for the reception of patients in January 1903. The first administrator was Oscar S. Gifford.[2] Many of the inmates were not mentally ill. Native Americans risked being confined in the asylum for alcoholism, opposing government or business interests, or for being culturally misunderstood. A 1927 investigation conducted by the Bureau of Indian Affairs determined that a large number of patients showed no signs of mental illness. While open, more than 350 patients were detained there, in terrible conditions. At least 121 died. The asylum was closed in 1934.[3]

Canton Indian Insane Asylum Cemetery

Land was set aside for a cemetery, but the Indian Office decided that stone markers for graves would be an unwarranted expense. Today, the cemetery, with at least 121 burials, is located north of the junction of U.S. Route 18 and the former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific railroad tracks
43°18′20″N 96°33′4″W

The National Park Service added the cemetery to the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.[1]

In Literature
  • Kent Nerburn's The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo includes accounts of conditions and resident's lives within the facility.[4]

References
  1. "Canton Indian Historical Society" Archived October 15, 2011, at the Wayback Machine, National Park Service. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
  2. Still Spring Films. "Hiawatha Asylum". Archived from the original on 2011-07-11. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
  3. Bhatara, Vinod; Gupta, Sanjay; Brokenleg, Martin (1999-05-01). "The Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians: The First Federal Mental Hospital for an Ethnic Group". American Journal of Psychiatry. 156 (5): 767. Retrieved 2017-03-13.
  4. Nerburn, Kent (2013). The Girl Who Sang to the Buffalo : a Child, an Elder, and the Light from an Ancient Sky. Novato, California: New World Library. ISBN 1608680150.
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