Begun in 1875, this Agency was the first building erected by the U.S. government to house the superintendencey [sic] of the Five Civilized Tribes. Used briefly, the building was leased in 1875 to the Baptist Mission Society as a school for the Creek Freedman children. In 1891 the Creek Nation purchased the building from the U.S. and used it for a Creek Freedman orphanage. In 1909 the Creek Nation conveyed the property to the City of Muskogee for park purposes. At times different persons had tearooms here. Mrs. Alex Posey had a tearoom and small museum here 1917-1919. Following World War I, in 1920 the building was renovated, re-named the Chateau, and used by the American Legion for offices and a dance hall. In 1944 the city returned the building to the government to aid the nearby veterans hospital. Not used, ten years later the Da-co-tah Indian Club of Muskogee sponsored a bill, introduced in Congress by the Honorable Ed Edmondson, seeking return of the Agency to Muskogee. The bill passed. The Five Civilized Tribes Museum, incorporated in 1955, and located in the Agency building since 1966, holds as it's purpose the keeping of the traditions and records of the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole Indians whose diverse trails in history converged in the Union Indian Agency.
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