The history of the weathered building east of the Barneston City Park is as patchy as the structure itself.

Its origins are no secret. A sign placed by the front door in the late 1980s reads "Otoe Missouria Indian Mission School, 1875-1882."

But not too many people know about the Big Blue River Reservation, established in 1854, and the hundreds of Otoe and Missouri people who called southern Gage County home.

And even fewer know about the reservation boarding school, which housed maybe 30 children at its peak. For decades afterward, the school building was used as a farmhouse, and much of its history was lost in the shuffle.

There is no doubt that those gaps — both in the public record of the school and the structure of the building itself — could cause headaches for Gage County Heritage Preservation, a group working to repair the building.

But the group also views that neglect as a reason for preserving the building. Leaders say the school could never be restored as a museum, but it can remind people of Barneston's roots as a Native village.

"We want to work with what is there, not make it something it's not," said Lori McAlister, president of the group.

"We can still snatch this history back from the brink," she said. "It's not about the structure, it's about having a focal point for the reservation and its connection to this  place."

The 162,000-acre Big Blue River Reservation was created in 1854 after the Otoe and Missouri people ceded most of their land to the Nebraska territory. A small village was established near Barneston, which included about 40 earth lodges and the mission school.

The two tribes sold the reservation in 1881 in exchange for land near Red Rock, Okla.

The school-turned-farmhouse endured a century of wear before 1987, when a group of history-minded women bought it and moved it a few hundred feet to its current place on public land.

Most of the original structure, including the third floor, is long gone. Even the building's tall window frames are empty of glass, warped by weather and covered by odd scraps of plywood.

So the group's first step will be a  picnic on Saturday to raise money to buy new single-paned windows similar to the original ones. Ratigan-Schottler Manufacturing  of Beatrice has offered to custom-build all 17 windows and donate the first six.

And the rest of the building is surprisingly solid, McAlister said. When finished, one half will hold bunk beds and desks typical of a mission school, and the other will  resemble a 1900s-era farmhouse.

By next spring the group hopes to host historic re-enactors from the Nebraska Humanities Council and speakers from Nebraska tribes.

"We may try to find people who could act as school teachers or Indian Affairs agents," McAlister said.

Nettie Grant Sikyta, a member of the Omaha tribe who lives in Beatrice, will speak Saturday on her experiences as an Omaha woman in Nebraska.

Grant Sikyta's grandmother attended the Indian Industrial School in Genoa, and her mother also attended a boarding school for Native children.

"We were always told to get an education and live with the white folk so we can learn how they think," she said. "But I would ask them, ‘Why aren't you mad, kicking screaming mad, that you were taken away from your parents so young?'"

Grant Sikyta said she is disappointed that her daughter does not learn more about Native contributions in school. She thinks places such as the Barneston school should be saved, even if few traces of history remain.

"Finding and spreading the truth," she said, "starts with an awareness of what you don't know."

Reach Kendra Waltke at (402) 473-7303 or kwaltke@journalstar.com.

If you go

What: A picnic to raise money to preserve a building once used as a mission school for the Otoe-Missouria tribes. The Gage County Heritage Preservation hopes the former school could host historic re-enactments and Native history programs.

When: Noon Saturday. Beef and hominy soup, roast turkey, fry bread, baked beans and salad will be served for a freewill donation. Nettie Grant Sikyta of the Omaha tribe will speak.

Where: Barneston City Park, one block west of the historic building.