Derek Ross of Waco spent the weekend harvesting tall prairie grass to build an authentic grass house similar to what his ancestors would have built two centuries ago along the Brazos River.
The Wichita and Affiliated Tribes of Anadarko, Oklahoma, is working with the Mayborn Museum to build an authentic Wichita grass house inside the museum at Baylor University.
The house is set to open in April as part of an exhibit called “Cultural Crossroads,” the first phase of a major renovation and expansion project at the Mayborn.
The Wichita long ago consolidated with several related tribes, including the Waco, which until the 1830s had a village of the thatched, beehive-shaped houses in what is now downtown Waco.
For Ross, a Wichita member, the project is a homecoming for the tribe.
“It’s important to Wichita people … because it says something about who we are, says something about family,” Ross said. “It says something about community, says something about togetherness.”
The Wichita occupied the prairies from Kansas to Texas for hundreds of years. The Wacos, Wichitas and other related tribes were housed at a reservation near Fort Belknap, Texas, in the 1850s but forced to leave in 1859 to Oklahoma, according to the Handbook of Texas and other sources.
In Wichita culture, men hunted for food and provided protection, while the grass houses were built by women. Wichita women would cut cedar poles, harvest the willow and cut the grass. Grass houses were surrounded by a farm to grow various vegetables to sustain a community. There would be 40 to 50 houses in one place.
“We had social services, we had education, we had welfare, we had elder care, we had all those things. Indian nations have all those things to take care of their people,” Ross said. “And so we had these farms in between, these communities of houses, grass houses, and so that city went on for five miles.”
Ross is passionate about educating people about his culture and history. When he talks to people in Waco, he finds people who are surprised to learn about the Waco village that preceded the modern city. He hopes with education, more people will be aware of this history.
“But it’s out of the pain of my heart that I would want to educate people about my tribe and my culture and my language and our history,” Ross said. “But it’s fuel. It’s fueled even more because there’s such a great need to.”
This past Saturday, Ross and other volunteers for the grass house project worked with the Mayborn and Texas Land Conservancy to gather big bluestem grass from the Tanglewood Prairie in Lexington. They hauled the grass to a warehouse in Waco, where it will be cured and treated until the build begins.
The Mayborn Museum plans to begin building the grass house once a wall is taken down this fall.
“It’s a chance to work with the tribe on telling their story,” said Trey Crumpton, manager of visitor experience at the Mayborn Museum Complex.
As part of the renovation, the museum plans to connect the discovery and natural science wings to make the museum more engaging for all ages.
The Mayborn has a Wichita-style house dating to 2004 that is built from synthetic materials and open for visitors to touch.
“The reason the grass house that we have has held up for 20 years is because it was built with exhibit materials,” Crumpton said. “This one is built with traditional materials, traditional techniques, and that makes it more fragile.”
An enclosure will surround the new house to prevent people from touching it, ensuring its longevity.
Few living people know how to build a Wichita grass house, and the process will be tracked in a documentary.
“Part of the whole reason that we’re doing this is to provide something great and accurate and quality to our visitors,” Crumpton said. “But it’s also to preserve the information, so that’s the partnership with the tribe, is to preserve the information, to pass it down, pass these techniques down to younger members of the tribe, which is something they’re very interested in.”
Since moving back to Waco four years ago, Ross has become a bridge for the tribe and the modern city of Waco. He even helped arrange a visit by Waco Mayor Jim Holmes to a powwow in Anadarko.
“I feel like that’s exactly why I’m here,” Ross said. “I’m the one who’s bridging the gap between the tribe and Oklahoma and people who are living in Waco today.”
