Seneca Nation Old Council House

3D Model

The Seneca Nation of Indians are the largest of six Native American nations comprising the Haudenosaunee or Iroquois Confederacy or Six Nations.

The Seneca Nation Courthouse, or Allegany Courthouse, or old council house served as the meeting location for the Seneca Council between 1920 and 1965. The two major issues debated in this building were the attempt to halt the construction of the Kinzua Dam and to obtain voting rights for the women of the Seneca Nation. The Seneca Nation lost their fight to stop the construction of the Kinzua Dam, and as a result, they lost a-third of their 10,000-acre, treaty protected lands along the Allegany River. The second issue, however, proved more successful, and in 1964 Seneca Nation women were given the right to vote in this very building. The old council house is located in Salamanca, New York, the home of the Seneca Nation of Indians.