Country of the Pawnee - Scandia, KS, USA
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 39° 47.900 W 097° 47.178
14S E 603906 N 4406079
History of this Pawnee area, as French then other Whites came upon them. Scandinavians and this town are also highlighted.
Waymark Code: WM10JCR
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 05/15/2019
Views: 1
County of marker: Republic County
Location: US-36, roadside park of the American Legion Post #193, just E. of Republic River Bridge, Scandia
Marker Erected by: State Historical Society and State Highway Commission
Marker Text:
Long before white men settled Kansas this region was the home of Pawnee Indians. French traders in the late 1700's named those along this river the Republican Pawnee in the mistaken belief that their form of government was a republic. From them the Republican River and in turn Republic County and city took their names.
Here, along the east side of the river, passed the military road opened in 1857 to connect Fort Riley and Fort Kearny, Neb. White settlement began in this area in the early 1860's, and at this place in 1868 the Scandinavian Agricultural Society of Chicago started a colony, which became Scandia. Fearful of Indian attacks, for several occurred nearby, the settlers constructed a stronghold near the river called Colony house.
Jedediah Smith, famed mountain man, explorer and mapper of the American West, led 60 men up the Republican valley in January, 1826. He stayed several weeks at a Republican Pawnee village, probably the one four miles west and eight north of this marker. The site of this village has been preserved by the state, and a modern archeological museum was opened there in 1967.