Echoes of the past: VA workers concerned with possible demolition of Tomah Indian School buildings

By Ken Luchterhand



There are stories of spirits roaming the rooms of the former Tomah Indian School.
Some people suggest they are the former residents of the school. People who have worked there have reported hearing voices, and even seeing a little native girl.
Whether or not those reports are true, there are many stories about the former Tomah Indian School. But the latest story is how some of those buildings may be coming down.
Under consideration for demolition are Building 25, the former boiler room, and the former hospital, on Veterans Administration Medical Center grounds.
“Management wants to demolish the buildings,” said Lin Ellinhuysen, president of AFGE Local 0007, who has an office in Building 25.
The other Indian School buildings still stand and are not being considered for demolition at this time.
But what concerns Ellinhuysen most is the loss of the past, and that people will not know what happened there.
“A lot of historic buildings are already gone,” Ellinghuysen said. “If someone doesn’t fight for the history, it will easily disappear,”
U.S. Veterans Service Officer Sandra Winneshiek, a Ho-Chunk member also would like to make sure the buildings to stay intact as a reminder of the past and for generations in the future to know where they came from and not to repeat what has been done in the past.
 “I am for preservation of all the Indian School buildings. This is a part of our history,” Winneshiek said, whose office also is in Building 25. 
There is a mass grave on the grounds, holding the remains of the children who died at the facility. The names have not been recorded and, until recently, no marker even showed the location or that it was a grave.
“AFGE wants management to be transparent about their plans for demolition,” Ellinghuysen said. “AFGE wants the historical buildings maintained properly; not left to deteriorate.  AFGE wanted management to involve Ho Chunk Nation early in the process.  AFGE believes preserving history is vitally important for future generations.”
Ho-Chunk Nation District II Rep. Henning Garvin said that the future for the Indian School is so unclear because there are so many questions that need to be answered.
“Since it is on federal land, we need to know answers to questions like who is going maintain the building, pay for utilities, and if there is any lead paint or asbestos that needs abatement,” Garvin said.
The issue has been referred to the Office of the President for further revenue, he said.
“We also need to know how the people feel about this matter,” Garvin said. “Some people will want it preserved for historical purposes, some people will be in the middle, and some people see the building as a reminder and a source of much pain from the past.”
At an Area meeting, a request was made to have the Veterans Administration director meet with the Office of the President to discuss all aspects of preserving the structures or letting them go.
 “A lot of tribal people came to this school, but it is also significant for the residents to know what happened here,” Winneshiek said.
The issue first came up at a meeting on June 14 this year, but there was some talk about it from VA Chief of Facilities Derek Ogle prior to that date, Ellsinghuysen said.
Ogle was saying that there isn’t enough in the budget to maintain the buildings, she said, but she questions how much it costs to maintain the structures.
“A big concern is Building 2, which was the Indian hospital. Some of our elders were born there,” said Sandra Winneshiek. In that building, the heat was shut off, she said.
During the last couple of months, engineers have been completing “forensic inspections” and brought a boom truck to inspect the roof, Ellsinghuysen said..
One of the reasons behind tearing down the building, besides maintenance costs, is that construction of a new warehouse is being considered, she said.
The Veterans Administration has a limitation of the number of building square footage they can possess. Considering they want to add the proposed 8,000-square-foot warehouse, they need to remove some of the existing buildings to gain some available square footage, Ellsinghuysen said.
The brick is crumbling in the warehouse and they are renting warehouse space downtown, which they say is not secure.
Some Ho-Chunk members are not sure the buildings need to be preserved, citing that remembering the past can be a painful reminder.
Tribal elder Gordon Thunder said his mother was a resident of the Tomah Indian School when she was young. She lived with her grandmother before going to the school and her grandmother died during her time at the school, so she lived there for about 11 years, he said.
“She had nowhere else to go,” Thunder said.
Later, as an adult, she returned to give birth to Gordon at the hospital on the grounds.
Gordon doesn’t believe the preservation of the school is necessary because of so many bad events that happened there.
“I don’t think anyone who lived there would want to go back there to visit,” he said.
One of those tragic reminders is a lower room in Building 25. On a lower level, two prison-like holding cells, minus the doors, still exist.
On that level, door openings provide entryway to two elongated rooms. But more striking is the hardware around each of the doors. The hinges and latch mechanism on either sides of the doorway, plus the barred vent opening above the doorways, indicate the rooms were perhaps used as prison holding cells.
Another one of the contentions of the issue to be considered a historic building is the date the building was constructed so that it can be recorded as a state historical structure.
On a cornerstone of the Building 25 is the date 1913, along with the name L.M. Compton Superintendent, Engineer. Also, on a beam a now-boarded-up garage door is “Jones and Laughlin,” which was a steelmaker in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, founded in 1852.
 Chip Brown III of the Wisconsin Historical Society said there is a meeting set up in a couple weeks when he and other Tomah Veterans Administration officials will offer a tour of the facilities and discuss the future of some of the buildings. To date, nothing has been decided, Brown said.
Green Environmental Management System Program Manager Kurt Brownell said there are currently no plans for demolition, but declined further comment without prior clearance from the Veterans Administration.




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