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Fort Totten Sate Historic Site
Fort Totten, ND

The best preserved military post of the Dakota frontier era.

Fort Totten served American Indian policy from 1867 to 1959. Constructed as a military post, it became an Indian boarding school, Indian health care facility, and a reservation school.

Initially, the fort policed the surrounding reservation. The soldiers enforced the peace, guarded overland transportation routes, and aided Dakota (Sioux) who lived near Devils Lake after 1867. Fort Totten was decommissioned in 1890.

On January 5th, 1891 the former post became the property of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The post served as an Indian boarding school until 1959. Academic and vocational training prepared Indian youth for life off the reservation. Enrollment sometimes topped 400. After independent tribal government was established, a community school operated in the buildings from 1940 to 1959.

Fort Totten became a North Dakota State Historic Site in 1960 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

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Click here to learn more:

https://www.state.nd.us/hist/totten/totten.htm

https://www.state.nd.us/hist/