Truxton Canyon Indian School

The Truxton Canyon Indian School—also known as the Truxton Canyon Training School—was established in 1903 just off Route 66 in Valentine, AZ. Opened by the Office of Indian Affairs, it functioned as a boarding school for Hualapai and children from other tribes like Apache, Hopi, Navajo, and Yavapai. Students were immersed in industrial and domestic training while being forced to abandon their native languages and traditions as part of broader federal assimilation policies. The school closed in 1937 after nearly 750 students had passed through its doors.

Today, only the two-story Colonial Revival brick schoolhouse remains, recognized on the National Register of Historic Places since 2003. Owned by the Hualapai Nation, it stands as both a painful reminder of forced cultural separation and a potential future community center—highlighting contrasting views within the tribe about whether to preserve or repurpose the site.