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Indian Dormitory

The treaty of Washington, 1836, in which the Michigan Ottawas and Chippewas deeded vast acreage to the United States, stipulated the government would build a "dormitory" for Indians visiting Mackinac Island to receive their yearly allotments. Its most famous resident was Indian agent Henry R. Schoolcraft. He married an Indian woman from Sault Ste. Marie and interviewed Indians who stayed in the building. Schoolcraft's findings published as "Algic Researches" in 1839 established him as the foremost authority on Eastern Indians.

In 1966 the Mackinac State Historic Parks restored the building and created an interpretative museum which features artifacts from the fur trade as well as materials upon which the New England poet Henry Longfellow, based his long narrative poem "Hiawatha".

The Indian Dormitory, located below the fort hill, was restored in 1966. Island children attended school at this site from 1870 to 1960.