Pictures and Brief History of Umonhon Nation School

The main building at Umonhon Nation was built in 1973. For many years prior to that time, there was no high school at Macy after the school burned in a fire. At the completion of 8th grade, students went to Walthill, Winnebago or a boarding school of their choice to finish their high school education.  Over the years, a series of portable classrooms, a five-classroom brick outbuilding and a metal classroom building were used for high school classes.

In 1999, the high school moved to the main building and minor renovations were made to the building originally designed as an elementary.

A major addition of 11 classroooms, a distance learning lab, the Cultural Language Center Huthuga (designed with elements of an earth lodge) and a commons area/cafeteria was completed in the Spring of 2003.  This addition has made it possible for grade levels to be separated.  After 30 years of being used in the morning and at noon as a cafeteria, the gym is now available throughout the day for physical education.

 










Aerial Photography at TerraServerMicrosoft shows an aerial view of the town and school campus.
Use the navigator to the left to find your own town, or zoom in and out and pan using the buttons, or simply click the picture.  HIGHLY ADDICTIVE mapping tool!  This is an photograph of Macy, Nebraska.  The (old) school is to the right of main street which cuts the photo almost in half vertically. The new addition (not pictured) wraps around the existing west and north walls of the building.

Administrative History of Umonhon Nation Public School
Listings of the high school principals and superintendents who have served Umonhon Nation Public School.  Thank you to Jo Meyer and John Mangan for their research and submissions

How Public Education Started on the Omaha Reservation
The first (white man's) school on the Omaha Reservation was the Blackbird Presbyterian Mission which stood approximately 2 miles north of the current town of Macy on the bluff overlooking the Missouri River. The readers cannot see it from this small photograph, but in the print hanging in Omaha Way commons area of the new addition, close inspection will reveal tiny faces in the windows of the mission house.



One review of the boarding school movement, the philosophy and the results is available here.

An overview of the Omaha Tribe with a short segment on the Blackbird Mission School is found in Thomas P. Myers's writings. This information was gathered and compiled with assistance from Dennis Hastings, Omaha Tribal historian

This Page was last update: Monday, February 12, 2007 at 10:04:36 AM
This page was originally posted: 3/29/05; 3:03:59 PM.
Copyright 2008 David Friedli

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