New Historical Marker to Spotlight Tragic Legacy of Martinsburg Indian School

Blair County is set to receive a new historical marker dedicated to the short-lived but impactful Martinsburg Indian School.

 

This official recognition joins over 2,500 markers across the state telling Pennsylvania’s story.

 

The school, also known as the Juniata Institute, operated under a federal contract from 1885 to 1888.

 

It was one of more than 500 such institutions across the nation established with a brutal mission: to forcibly assimilate Indigenous children.

 

Students, who were members of the Osage and Oneida Nation, were separated or taken from their homes by government agents and sent hundreds of miles away.

 

Some of the children had even been transferred from the notorious Carlisle Indian School.

 

These schools were part of a federal policy intended to destroy Native culture under the chilling motto, "kill the Indian” to “save the man.”

 

The consequences were devastating for the children subjected to the system.

 

When the federal contract for the Martinsburg Indian School ended, some students returned home, while others were sent back to Carlisle Indian School.

 

Tragically, two students died during the school's operation and were buried in a local cemetery, a permanent and painful reminder of this history in Martinsburg, PA.

 

State officials confirmed this marker is one of nine new ones approved to shed light on significant and often overlooked parts of Pennsylvania’s past.

 

What was the Martinsburg Indian School?

The Martinsburg Indian School was a federally contracted boarding school in Blair County that operated from 1885 to 1888. It housed children from the Osage and Oneida Nations as part of a national policy of forced cultural assimilation.

 

Why is this historical marker significant?

The marker serves as an official acknowledgment of the trauma inflicted by the Native American boarding school system and honors the memory of the children, including two who died and are buried locally.