A photograph showing St. Francis Hall at the Osage Catholic Mission in Saint Paul, Kansas. The two-story frame building, built in 1869, was first used as a library and later as a parochial school for boys. The mission was founded in 1847 for Osage Indians living along the Neosho and Verdigris rivers. A manual labor school for boys was established by the Jesuits and a department for girls by the Sisters of Loretto. In 1848 the first Catholic church in southern Kansas was built. When the Osages moved to Indian territory in 1870, white children gradually replaced the Indians. The school became St. Francis Institution for boys and St. Ann's Academy for girls. St. Francis closed in 1891 and St. Ann's was destroyed by fire in 1895.

Date: 1879