Native tribe seeks return of ancestral land in Dekalb County
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[March 02, 2024]
By PETER HANCOCK
Capitol News Illinois
phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com
SPRINGFIELD – Illinois currently has no federally recognized tribal land
within its borders, but that could change in the coming months.
A bill pending in the General Assembly this year would give back roughly
1,500 acres of park land in DeKalb County to the Prairie Band Potawatomi
Nation. That tribe once occupied much of the Great Lakes region but was
forcibly removed in the 19th century and is now headquartered in
northeast Kansas.
“The Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation is grateful, and after 170 years, we
may finally be on the path to getting this issue resolved,” tribal
chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick said during a recent Statehouse news
conference.
The land in question makes up what is now Shabbona Lake State Park,
located about 30 miles west of Aurora on U.S. Highway 30. The park is
named after Chief Shab-eh-nay of the Prairie Band Potawatomi, a direct
ancestor of Rupnick.
As Rupnick tells the history, the land that now makes up the park was
set aside for Shab-eh-nay and his descendants in 1829 as part of the
Treaty of Prairie du Chien. The following year, President Andrew Jackson
signed the Indian Removal Act, which gave the president authority to
grant land west of the Mississippi to Native Americans in exchange for
giving up their tribal lands in the east.
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In 1833, the Potawatomi signed the Treaty of Chicago in which they ceded
nearly all their land along the western shore of Lake Michigan – all
except the roughly two square miles reserved for them by the Treaty of
Prairie du Chien.
From there, the Prairie Band Potawatomi splintered, with some moving to
Canada and others moving west to Missouri and Kansas. In the 1840s, with
money they received for ceding their land in Illinois, the Potawatomi
bought a 30-by-30-mile reservation in Kansas, about 30 miles north of
what is now Topeka.
But Chief Shab-eh-nay and about 20 to 30 other members of his extended
family stayed behind on their land in Illinois. That is, until about
1850, when Shab-eh-nay took a trip west to check in with the rest of the
tribe in Kansas to make sure they were settling in.
“Of course, you couldn't make that drive like you can in eight hours
today,” Rupnick said in an interview.
Traveling by horseback or wagon, Rupnick said, Shab-eh-nay was gone from
Illinois for several weeks.
“Once he got back here (to Illinois), that's when he discovered that
people were living in his house,” Rupnick said. “They actually picked up
his house and moved it to another location, and people were living in
it. He tried to fight that through the court systems. They told him that
he had abandoned his land, that the General Land Office had sold all of
his land because he abandoned it. And they allowed the settlers and
whoever else to live there.”
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![](../images/030224PIX/news_a1.jpg)
Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick, tribal chairman of the Prairie Band
Potawatomi Nation, speaks at a news conference at the Illinois
Capitol last month. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Peter Hancock)
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In the 170 years since that event, the Prairie Band Potawatomi have had
no official presence in Illinois, but they now hope to reassert their
claims.
In recent years, Rupnick said, the tribe has purchased 128 acres and two
homes on the original reservation, and they are seeking to acquire the
rest of the property through a combination of state and federal
legislation.
In the General Assembly, House Bill 4718, by Rep. Mark Walker,
D-Arlington Heights, would give them title to property currently
occupied by Shabbona Lake State Park, much of which covers the tribe’s
original reservation. But other parts of the reservation are now
occupied by private homes, the titles to which Rupnick says are clouded
due to the treaty disputes.
“Right now, if you did a title search, and you had a house that was
within the boundaries of that reservation, that title search would come
back and say that sale is subject to the concurrence of Shab-eh-nay
and/or his descendants,” he said.
To clear up those claims, Rupnick said, the tribe has proposed federal
legislation that would allow the current occupants of those homes to
keep those properties, and even to pass them on to their descendants.
But if those homeowners ever choose to sell their property, the federal
legislation would give the tribe a right of first refusal to purchase
it.
That legislation is being cosponsored by U.S. Sens. Dick Durban,
D-Illinois, and Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, but so far has not received any
traction.
Just what the tribe intends to do with the land if it’s successful in
reacquiring it remains an open question. In Kansas, the tribe owns and
operates a successful hotel and casino operation, but Rupnick said such
a plan is not currently under consideration in Illinois.
“We get asked that question quite a bit,” he said, “because 30 years
ago, when we were trying to settle this land issue, there wasn't much
gaming in Illinois. Now, I think the market is oversaturated.”
“Our first priority is to secure the land,” he added. “And that has
always been the priority since I've been elected, to make sure that we
have the land issue settled. Once that happens, then we can look at
other options.”
Capitol News Illinois is
a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is
distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide.
It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert
R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the
Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial
Association.
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