New Prophetstown Center Planned
nlclark1@aol.com
Thu, 7 Dec 1995 22:31:51 -0500
The State of Indiana has leased 210 acres, a part of the original site of
Prophetstown, to the Prophetstown State Park Foundation, Inc. for the purpose
of building a Woodland Native American Cultural Complex on the banks of the
Wabash River, near Lafayette, Indiana. The complex will be located within a
2,770 acre state park which should be completed by 2005. The Prophetstown
Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit educational foundation and is unique
in composition. Local and regional Lafayette/Tippecanoe County business and
community leaders, the chiefs and tribal chairs of 23 Great Lakes Woodland
Indian Tribes and Indiana governmental leaders will join together to deveop
this major new complex. Local and regional members have already raised
are an 80,000 sq. ft. exhibit and public educational facility, a 50 acre
outdoor events area surrounded by memorials to the 13 tribes that
participated in the Prophetstowon Woodland Confederacy, 80 acres for two
living history villages featuring Hopewell prehistoric ("mound builder")
culture and a typical Great Lakes village of the 1800s, as well as a 40 acre
intertribal burial ground intended for the remains of Native Americans held
in museums across the country but originally taken from Indiana sites. There
will be no contemporary burials. Prehistoric and historic burials will only
occur with the permission and involvement of contemporary, federally
recognized tribal leaders. Total cost of the project is expected to be $15
to $20 million dollars and will all be raised privately. No tax dollars will
be used. The Center will preserve and interpret the more than 10,000 years
of documented Native American occupation of the Prophetstown site.
Construction is expected to begin in 1998 and be completed in 2000. The
work of the Foundation is divided as follows: The Native American tribal
chiefs and chairs will choose the site and building architects, will decide
the scope of both site and facility development, will plan and implement all
interpretive programs and will provide staff for the Center. The local and
regional, non-Indian members, will be responsible for raising the funds for
the project. A Woodland elder, speaking at a recent Prophetstown gathering,
said, "Our ancestors may have lost a military victory at the Battle of
Tippecanoe in 1811, but this project now enables us to gain a greater victory
in that we will be able to tell our own story and preserve our traditions,
arts and culture." For more information, contact: Nick L. Clark, Executive
Director, Prophetstown State Park Foundation, Inc., 22 N. Second Street,
Lafayette, Indiana 47901. Phone: 317-423-4617. FAX: 317-423-4495.
E-Mail: NLCLARK1@AOL.COM