This serving spoon was recovered from excavations by Kansas Historical Society archeologists and crew at the Shawnee Indian Mission in Johnson County. The handle is marked with "L W" in cursive on the front and "COWLES CO." on the back. This company, under various names, from East Grandby, Connecticut, manufactured electroplated flatware in the 1840s. The Mission was built in 1839 for the Shawnee Tribe and closed in 1862. The life of the building did not end there. During the Civil War troops were quartered in the Mission, and later it saw use as a dance hall, dairy bottling plant, apartments, and a boarding house until becoming property of the state in 1927.
Kansas Memory
Kansas Historical Society
Monogrammed Serving Spoon from the Shawnee Methodist Mission, 14JO362 - 2