{{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}} {{Infobox NRHP | name = Thomas Indian School | nrhp_type = hd | nocat = yes | image = Thomas_Indian_School_Admin_Bldg 1983.jpg | caption = Thomas Indian School Administration Building, 1981 | location = NY 438 on Cattaraugus Reservation, Irving, New York | coordinates = {{coord|42|32|22|N|78|59|48|W|display=inline,title}} | locmapin = New York#USA | area = | built = 1900 | architecture = Georgian Revival | added = January 25, 1973 | refnum = 73001188<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref> }} '''Thomas Indian School''', also known as the Thomas Asylum of Orphan and Destitute Indian Children, is a historic school and national historic district located near Irving at the Cattaraugus Indian Reservation in Erie County, New York. The institution is remembered today both as a significant local institution and as a site of cultural trauma for the Seneca and other Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) peoples.
The school was first established in 1855 by Presbyterian missionaries Asher Wright and his wife Laura Wright to house the orphaned and kidnapped Seneca children of the reservation under the federal policy of forced assimilation,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Burich|first=Keith R.|date=2007|title="No Place to Go": The Thomas Indian School and the "Forgotten" Indian Children of New York|journal=Wíčazo Ša Review|volume=22|issue=2|pages=93–110|doi=10.1353/wic.2007.0015|jstor=30131236|s2cid=159954138 |issn=0749-6427}}</ref> one of at least 523 such institutions.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Levitt |first=Zach |last2=Parshina-Kottas |first2=Yuliya |last3=Romero |first3=Simon |last4=Wallace |first4=Tim |date=2023-08-30 |title='War Against the Children' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/08/30/us/native-american-boarding-schools.html |access-date=2025-10-03 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> It was funded initially by and named for Rochester philanthropists Philip and Mary Thomas.<ref name="Thomas Indian School">{{Cite web |title=Thomas Indian School |url=https://www.archives.nysed.gov/creator-authority/thomas-indian-school |access-date=2025-10-03 |website=New York State Archives |language=en}}</ref>
The campus's original wooden buildings were replaced in 1900–1901 with a large Gothic Revival stone complex, which still stands today. Built by New York State as a self-supporting campus and designed by the New York City firm Barney and Chapman, the campus contains the red brick Georgian Revival style main buildings and a multitude of farm and vocational buildings.<ref name=nrhpdoc>{{cite report|type=none|url=https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75317719 |title=National Register of Historic Places Registration: New York SP Thomas Indian School|publisher=National Archives and Records Administration |author= Cornelia E. Brooke|date=December 1972 | access-date=October 21, 2025 }} ({{NationalArchivesNote}})</ref>
The campus closed in 1957 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.<ref name="nris" /> It now houses Seneca Nation governmental and health complexes, including elder housing and services, with a court building in the former school infirmary.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Skowronski |first=Charles |date=2021-12-31 |title=EC200 {{!}} A Brief History of the Senecas |url=https://www.buffalorising.com/2021/12/ec200-a-brief-history-of-the-senecas/ |access-date=2025-10-03 |website=Buffalo Rising |language=en-US}}</ref>
Generations of Seneca children endured harsh discipline, cultural suppression and family separation at the school. At least 2,500 children from various tribes were separated from their families and forced to attend.<ref name="Thomas Indian School"/> In May 2025, Gov. Kathy Hochul met with survivors of the school and apologized on behalf of New York State for the atrocities committed there.
Numerous works address the stories of former residents of Native American boarding schools in Western New York and Canada, such as Thomas Indian School, Mohawk Institute Residential School (also known as Mohawk Manual Labour School and Mush Hole Indian Residential School) in Brantford, Southern Ontario, Haudenosaunee boarding school, and the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania; the impact of those and similar schools on their communities; and community efforts to overcome those impacts. Examples include: the film ''Unseen Tears: A Documentary on Boarding School Survivors'',<ref>{{cite news|title=''Unseen Tears'': A Documentary on Boarding School Survivors |date=December 2, 2010|url=http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/article/unseen-tears%3A-a-documentary-on-boarding-school-survivors-3047|work=Indian Country Today Media Network}}</ref> Ronald James Douglas' graduate thesis titled ''Documenting ethnic cleansing in North America: Creating Unseen Tears'',<ref>{{cite news|title=Documenting ethnic cleansing in North America: Creating unseen tears (AAT 1482210)|author= Douglas, Ronald James|year= 2010 |id = {{ProQuest|757916758}}}}</ref> and the Legacy of Hope Foundation's online media collection: "Where are the Children? Healing the Legacy of the Residential Schools".<ref>{{cite news|journal=Where Are the Children? |title=Healing the Legacy of the Residential Schools|url=http://www.wherearethechildren.ca/en/|author=Legacy of Hope Foundation}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{Commons category}} *{{HABS |survey=NY-6012 |id=ny1381 |title=homas Asylum for Orphan & Destitute Indians, Route 438, Cattaraugus Reservation, Irving, Erie County, NY |data=8}} *{{HABS |survey=NY-6012-A |id=ny1382 |title=Thomas Asylum for Orphan & Destitute Indians, Administration Building |photos=21 |data=2 |cap=1 |link=no}} *{{HABS |survey=NY-6012-B |id=ny1383 |title=Thomas Asylum for Orphan & Destitute Indians, Dining Hall |photos=8 |data=2 |cap=1 |link=no}} *{{HABS |survey=NY-6012-C |id=ny1384 |title=Thomas Asylum for Orphan & Destitute Indians, Dormitory |photos=6 |data=8 |cap=1 |link=no}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in New York}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in New York (state) Category:Historic districts in Erie County, New York Category:School buildings completed in 1900 Category:Georgian Revival architecture in New York (state) Category:School buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Category:Education in Erie County, New York Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in New York (state) Category:National Register of Historic Places in Erie County, New York Category:1900 establishments in New York (state) Category:Native American history of New York (state)