Kansas Statutes Chapter 76. State Institutions and Agencies; Historical Property § 76-2009. Same; history

Said land and the buildings standing thereon constitute the buildings and site of the Old Shawnee Mission, established by the Methodist church in the year 1829. That they were the first buildings of any pretention of substantial construction built in the territory that is now Kansas. That for many years they constituted the farthest permanent outpost of western immigration. That in 1855 they became the residence of Governor Reeder and the first territorial officers; and in that year housed the first legislature of Kansas, which legislature named the first permanent capital of Kansas. That they were the barracks of federal troops during the civil war. That they were the headquarters for early Indian campaigns, and were the center around which waged the border warfare. That this mission was the first point in Kansas on the Old Santa Fe trail, and was the mobilization center on the Oregon trail, later made famous by “the covered wagon.”