Biography of washunga

Unincorporated community in Oklahoma, United States

Washunga is a small community and ghost town in Kay County, Oklahoma, United States.

Washunga was named for the leader of the Kaw Indians in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Biography of washunga

The word means "bird" in the Kaw language. The name was often spelled Washungah. The town was established in 1903 at the headquarters of the Kaw tribe, called the Kaw Agency. A post office was established at the Kaw Agency in 1880 and continued until 1918.^[2]

The building housing the former Kaw Agency is listed on the NRHP.

In the early 1970s, the building was relocated a few hundred yards north to the present site as the waters of Kaw Lake covered the original site.

History

In 1873, 533 Kaw Indians were removed from their reservation near Council Grove, Kansas to a new reservation in what would become Kay County, Oklahoma.

The land of their reservation in Kansas had been encroached upon by white settlers an