Ownership of the 170-acre campus of the former Intermountain Indian School in Brigham City, Utah will be formally returned to the city in a ceremony to be held in the City Hall January 28.
John W. Fritz, the Interior Department's Deputy Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, will give Mayor Peter C. Knudson a quit claim deed to the Congressman James V. Hansen CR. Utah) and the Brigham City council will be present.
The transfer of the land, originally donated by the city to the United States in 1942, is in accord with a federal law enacted August 27, 1984. Congress had directed the closing of the school by June of 1984 because of declining enrollments in Bureau of Indian Affairs off-reservation schools.
The land was first used by the United States in World War II as the site of the Bushnell Military Hospital. The city, at that time, also provided power, water and sewer lines, paved roads, and sand and gravel for building construction. A 3,700 bed hospital was completed in 1943 and was used by the Army until 1946.
In 1949 the land and buildings were transferred to the Bureau of Indian Affairs to be used as a temporary school to help meet a greatly increased post-war demand for education on the Navajo reservation. At first the Intermountain school was used by Navajo students who were overage for their school grade level. It subsequently became a vocational 'training school for students from many tribes and Alaska and, more recently, provided a full high school program. At its peak, the school had an enrollment of about 2,300.
A spokesman for the city said the property will be developed for use as an industrial/business park.
