CaseStudy:Transfer of Property to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma and Demolition of the Old Choctaw Nation Hospital

The Indian Health Service (IHS) proposes to transfer to the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma 48 acres of government-owned property, including the Choctaw Indian Hospital Campus Historic District, at Talihina in southeastern Oklahoma. The Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma requested transfer of title to the buildings in the historic district along with the underlying land, which had historically been the property of the tribe. Currently, the tribe uses all of the historic buildings for tribal and health care-related functions, with the exception of the Old Choctaw Nation Hospital, a central feature of the campus. Because tribal officials consider rehabilitating and maintaining the hospital building to be economically infeasible, the tribe has requested IHS to demolish the building prior to the transfer. Some members of both the Choctaw and Chickasaw Nations, including both Tribal Historic Preservation Officers (THPOs), oppose the tribe’s official position regarding demolition of the historic hospital building and have informed the IHS that they regard the property as having religious and cultural significance to the tribes.

The Choctaw Indian Hospital Campus Historic District consists of 26 buildings, some dating from as early as 1918. The district is eligible for listing in the National Register under Criterion A, as a significant property associated with the history of the federal government’s Indian health care programs in Oklahoma, and under Criterion C, for its architectural and design characteristics.

The medical facility at Talihina was among the earliest such facilities in the United States, constructed by the federal government after a century of only minimal efforts to provide health care for Indian people. It was originally built to care for Choctaw and Chickasaw tuberculosis patients at a time when Indian populations continued to be especially susceptible to European diseases and rarely had access to adequate health care. The hospital building, vacant since construction of a new hospital on adjacent land in 1999, was designed by Chicago architects Schmidt, Garden and Erikson. Constructed of load-bearing native stone in 1937-38, the building is individually eligible for listing in the National Register. The building has been altered on the interior but retains its historic appearance on the exterior. Because of the hospital’s association with the New Deal period when John Collier, as Commissioner of Indian Affairs, devoted his energies to improving health care for Indian people, the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) has stated that significance at the national level may apply.

Consultation includes the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP), the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, the Choctaw Nation THPO, and the Oklahoma SHPO. The challenges of Section 106 consultation are unusual, in part because once the transfer occurs, and the property becomes tribal land, the THPO would assume SHPO functions for that land.

On September 22, 2009, the ACHP provided IHS with an analysis of the Section 106 issues to be addressed. The analysis, which was developed by the Oklahoma SHPO and concurred by the ACHP, recommends specific steps toward minimizing and mitigating the adverse effects of the proposed undertaking.