THE MISSION GROUNDS
Today the grounds of the Shawnee Indian Mission are the last remaining parcel of the Mission’s original 2200-acre tract. At the time of its founding, the Mission land stretched from State Line to Nall and from 47th Street to 63rd Street. It included parts of what are now six different cities — Fairway, Mission, Mission Woods, Westwood, Westwood Hills and Mission Hills. As this area was settled, hundreds of houses have been built on what was once Mission land and hundreds of homeowners probably don’t even know that they’re “living on Mission land.”
While much smaller than the original expanse, the 12 acres that comprise the Mission grounds are a verdant reminder of the rolling fields and grasslands that awaited the early settlers. With its open spaces, shady trees and two streams, the Mission is the ideal spot for a picnic, a slow stroll or just a quiet respite from suburban neighborhoods. In fact, the Mission grounds are now the largest natural green space in northeast Johnson County.
The streams that flow through the grounds were once more than just lovely little waterways. One of the streams is spring-fed and thus, served as the primary source of drinking water for those living at the Mission in the 1800s.
Today, volunteer Johnson County Master Gardeners maintain demonstration gardens near the buildings. The areas are planned to re-create Nineteenth Century gardens with appropriate plants, including both decorative and crop plants.
LOOKING AHEAD
For many, the land is as much an attraction as the buildings. This large, open parcel invites visitors of all ages to observe and explore nature. Currently, the grounds to the north of the buildings, on the north side of 53rd Street, resemble a neighborhood park as it might have appeared in the 1930s. The future vision for these grounds, as expressed in the Conceptual Plan for the Mission, is to restore this expanse of land to its more distant past, before even the earliest days of the Mission.
As the Mission’s Conceptual Plan is implemented over the next few years, the grounds around the Mission buildings will be restored to how they might have looked in the 1850s. The plantings will showcase the original role of the Mission: to train farmers to meet the challenges of Midwestern conditions and to thrive in an agricultural economy.
The north acreage will be restored to its natural state, before the first settlers arrived. The invasive species along the streams will be replaced with plants native to this area. The goal is to re-create a small prairie ecosystem with grasses and wildflowers serving as hosts to pollinators, birds and other wildlife.
The prairie that once covered hundreds of miles of Midwestern land has nearly disappeared. Today only four percent of the original prairies remain. It’s an ecosystem that’s become rare and little known, even by long-time residents of the heartland. The restored prairie at the Mission will allow curious visitors and future scientists to study our ecological heritage.