DeKalb County tribal land recognized by federal government, first in Illinois

SHABONNA – The first federally-recognized tribal land in Illinois is in DeKalb County, after portions of the Shab-eh-nay Reservation were placed into a trust for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation on Friday.

Chairman Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation said Friday was a victory in a battle his family has been fighting for most of two centuries.

“Words can’t describe the feeling that I’m feeling today,” Rupnick said. “My grandfather, Chief Shab-eh-nay, four generations removed, has been fighting for 180 years. I’ve got pictures of my grandmother and great grandmother coming up to Illinois in the 60′s trying to get this land issue settled.”

The Nation once occupied much of the Great Lakes region but was forcibly removed in the 19th century and now has its headquarters in northeast Kansas, Capitol News Illinois reported.

[ Native tribe seeks return of ancestral land in DeKalb County ]

The United States Department of Interior placed the reservation, which is in Shabbona, into a trust for the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation on Friday, according to a news release from the department.

“Words can’t describe the feeling that I’m feeling today. My grandfather, Chief Shab-eh-nay, four generations removed, has been fighting for 180 years. I’ve got pictures of my grandmother and great grandmother coming up to Illinois in the 60′s trying to get this land issue settled.”

—  Joseph “Zeke” Rupnick

“My mom, who was the chairperson, really started the push 30 years ago and today we finally got it done,” Rupnick said.

The Potawatomi Nation and other tribes ceded land in northern Illinois in a treaty signed July 29, 1829, commonly known as the Second Treaty of Prairie du Chien, according to legislation filed in 2023 by members of Congress from Illinois and Kansas.

Potawatomi Chief Shab-eh-nay and his Band at their village near Paw Paw Grove, however, were allowed to keep two parcels of land, totaling 1,280 acres. That land became known as the Shab-eh-nay Band Reservation. In 1849, while Shab-eh-nay was visiting relatives who had been forced to move to Kansas, the land was sold by the General Land Office of the United States at a public auction, according to the bills filled in Congress.

U.S. reps Lauren Underwood, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Chicago and four others cosponsored House Resolution 3144, which would allow the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation to acquire 1,280 acres of land near Shabbona State Park in compensation for what the Nation has long held was illegal acquisition of the land by the U.S. government 173 years ago.

In a statement provided in a news release from her office on Friday, Underwood – who’s 14th Congressional District includes portions of DeKalb, Kendall, La Salle and Will counties – said Friday’s news is one step along the way.

“175 years ago, our federal government unlawfully sold the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation’s land in Illinois,” Underwood said in the release. “In Congress, I’ve been working in partnership with the Nation to correct this historic injustice. The decision to put portions of the Shab-eh-nay Reservation into Trust is an important step to returning the land that is rightfully theirs, and I am so honored to represent the first federally-recognized reservation in Illinois.”