St. Joseph Indian Normal School

St. Joseph's Indian Normal School is a former school for American Indians in Rensselaer, Indiana. The school building is now known as Drexel Hall and part of the Saint Joseph's College campus. Boarding schools were believed to be the best way to assimilate them into the white culture.[2] The school lasted from 1888 to 1896 and was funded by the U.S. government and Catholic missionaries. It was believed that this was the best way to "civilize" Native Americans and the western territories.[2] Established by the Catholic Indian Missions with funding from St. Katharine Drexel, the school taught 60 Indian children. The Society of Precious Blood operated the school during its years of operation. The students were all boys.[3] When the Indian School was closed, the building was named Drexel Hall. It is one of the first structures of Saint Joseph's College.[2]

St. Joseph Indian Normal School
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	St. Joseph's College Campus off U.S. Route 231, Rensselaer, Indiana
Coordinates	40°55′17″N 87°9′4″W
Area	less than one acre
Built	1888
NRHP reference No.	73000018[1]
Added to NRHP	June 19, 1973

The Indian school was essentially a red brick structure with the ground floor surrounded with a sandstone wall. It was built in a square, 80 feet (24 m) on each side. The square courtyard in the center, it being around 30 feet (9.1 m) on each side. Each wing had four floors with the east wing only three floors high. The roof was red tiles. The main entrance was on the west. It was owned by the Bureau of Catholic Indian Missions in Washington, D.C.[4]

It was a boarding school for Indian boys with space for 70 boys, their classrooms, playroom, dormitory, kitchen, a small chapel, rooms for the superintendent and a teacher or two and for around six Sisters (nuns) who ran the kitchen.[4] An inspector's report said there were 29 rooms in all. Although the building served as an Indian school for only eight years (1888-1896), it was not changed or altered until 1937 when it was re-modeled to serve as a residence hall for Saint Joseph's College. Only the bell tower was removed along with the shutters from the windows. On the inside, it was altered.[4] The courtyard was made smaller to allow an extra row of rooms.[4] Drexel Hall later housed some offices of Saint Joseph's College, before and after the college announced a suspension of operations in 2017.