The 1833 Treaty of Chicago between the United States and the United Nations of Chippewa, Ottawa, and Pottawatomi ceded approximately 5,000,000 acres of land in exchange for $100,000. This treaty is also known as the Removal Treaty, under which many bands of Chippewa, Ottawa, and Pottawatomi were forcibly removed west of the Mississippi River. 

 

The Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish avoided removal by moving north of the Kalamazoo River and placing themselves under the protection of an Episcopalian mission in Allegan County. The mission later became known as the Griswold or Bradley Colony, and was funded by the provisions of the 1836 Ottawa-Chippewa Treaty.

 

Federal recognition of the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish band of the Pottawatomi occurred in the 1990s, and acknowledged the band's continuous presence in southwest Michigan. The Gun Lake band remains a culturally and economically important participant in the region today.

 

The marker for the northwest corner of the 1821 Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Reservation will be located on the grounds of Martin Luther King Jr./Westwood Elementary School, part of Kalamazoo Public Schools. The marker will be near the northern corner of the grounds, on the east side of Nichols Road and south of Croyden Avenue. The original 1821 reservation corner was located at the present-day corner of the school property and Calhoun Street, about 25 yards to the northeast of the marker.

 

Links:

 

 

 

Inter-Tribal Council of Michigan, Inc. page for the Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band

 

Select the "+" in the red cirlce on this page and the camera option to view oral histories from Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Tribal Councillors and band elders.

 

Tell us what you think of this new history and how we presented it - SURVEY.

 

This project is funded in part by the Michigan Humanities Council in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities.