LAWRENCE, Kan. – An Oklahoma tribe announced last week it now owns 87 acres of northeastern Kansas farm land.

Officials with the Delaware Tribe of Indians confirmed July 23 that their July 10 purchase was made through the tribe’s business subsidiary, LTI Enterprises, LLC.

Prior to its forced removal to Oklahoma after the Civil War, the tribe lived on a reservation in northeastern Kansas between Leavenworth and Lawrence.

The tribe is considering relocating its headquarters to its previous reservation due to economic development restrictions it faces as part of a 2009 memorandum of agreement with the Cherokee Nation.  Under the agreement, the Delaware Tribe cannot exert any governmental authority over land within the Cherokee Nation’s 14-county jurisdictional area or take any land into trust in exchange for the Cherokee Nation not opposing the tribe regaining federal recognition.

The agreement, which was required thanks to the 1866 treaty that moved the Delawares to Oklahoma, does not extend to Delaware property outside the Cherokee Nation’s jurisdiction.

The Delaware Tribe’s current capitol, Bartlesville, Okla., and its Chelsea, Okla., office are within the Cherokee Nation’s territory. The tribe also has offices in Kansas  - in Emporia and Caney. The tribe has been soliciting feedback from tribal citizens for potential service expansion in Kansas.

The property, which was previously part of a sod farm, is located on the town’s north side near a Kansas Turnpike interchange.

Delaware officials declined to provide a purchase price or a timeline for when the property will be used for tribal services. Proposed uses include a clinic, child care and tribal housing.