Letter-writing campaign works toward permanent Native American memorial
By Kris Leonhardt
PORTAGE COUNTY – A group of area residents came together on Sept. 24 for an outdoor letter-writing campaign to “support the acknowledgement of the mass native burial grounds on the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point campus.”
The group, organized by I2I, CREATE Portage County, and Karen Ann Hoffman, met in the backyard of the CREATE Portage County IDEA Center.
“Letter writing is designed to show community support for this project in hopes of growing support from the state leaders with the authority to make this acknowledgement happen,” said CREATE Executive Director Greg Wright. “Given that the land involved is state-owned, this project is achievable in a way that is lost to many other burial sites that are now on privately-owned land or under existing developments.
“CREATE believes this project has significant potential to expand the way we tell the story of our community, engaging more of its history and honoring more people. We believe this will be a powerful step towards reconciliation.”
The campaign centers around a site once known as Warren’s Grove – an area outside of early Stevens Point where Native Americans camped on private land.
“They had essentially been pushed off their traditional lands by European coming in and emigrating over in farming and logging. Most reservations had not yet been set up,” explained UWSP Emeritus Professor of Archaeology Ray P. Reser in an early interview with the Gazette.
“Basically, the camp where (the UWSP) campus is now was a bit of a refugee camp, and as often happens in refugee camps, Scarlet Fever broke out. Now, it looks from following the early newspaper accounts that Scarlet Fever actually broke out in the white population in Stevens Point and then got transferred out to the Native American camp.
“Newspaper accounts and oral history suggests either 70 or 80 Native Americans passed away from Scarlet Fever and they were interred in and around the old (stone) quarry, behind the Old Main building.
“Now I, and my predecessor John Moore, together we’ve probably been archeologists at UWSP for over 50 years; he and I had both looked for this quarry location in the past and were unable to find it.
“We did not know, however, until a couple of years ago that Native Americans had been interred in and around that quarry.
“With the help of Archives, we looked at photos of 1893 and 1894, when Old Main was built, and if you look at the photos you can see immediately north of Old Main, you can actually see the berms from the old quarry, where they were quarrying sandstone.
“We also found some newspaper accounts, which I think might have been in the Pinery newspaper… The Pinery newspaper talked about underclassmen driving their buggies to class at Old Main and tying up their horses to the trees around the old quarry behind Old Main. Essentially, the only area left with any shade for the horses was where trees were growing around the edge of the old quarry.”
Also documented in local newspapers was an event in September 1932 when city crews were pushing Reserve Street north through what is now the UWSP campus. Crews came across skeletal remains, which local residents, C.E. Wert and I.C. Rowe, Sr., noted as an Indian burial site that had been used some 60 years earlier.
Reser and Karen Ann Hoffman have been working over the past years to garner public recognition of the burial site. On Sept. 24, Hoffman worked with CREATE and I2I on the letter-writing campaign, which saw about two dozen participants.
“Mindful of the current situation, people came and went,” Hoffman explained. “I’m guessing a couple dozen. Some dropped by to leave a letter in our basket and others were present for the entire session. The short presentation turned into a community engagement Q&A conversation that lasted nearly an hour.
“It was heartening to see the community gather and have an open, respectful conversation about an important issue.”
Hoffman says that those who could not attend can still help.
“Letters of support will make an impact. You can send them to me via Facebook Messenger,” she said. “They can simply say: ‘To Whom it May Concern, I (name and city or Wisconsin resident or tribal affiliation or concerned citizen, or group name…) am writing to express my strong support for a Burial Acknowledgement Sculpture to be erected on the Mass Native Burial grounds on the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point campus. It is time to learn from our history. Sincerely. Xxxxxx.’
“We want us all to learn from our history. To gain funding for this memorial, public support is crucial. On behalf of those who no longer speak with their mouths, Thank you.”
Fundraising has also started for the sculpture, with all funds going to the project.