In 1916 the cemetery gained some protection as a national park under legislation supported by Kansas Senator Charles Curtis.

Lineal descendants among the Wyandot Nation of Kansas have strongly supported continued preservation of the cemetery in its original use.

Construction of buildings in the commercial section along the river began in 1857 and proceeded rapidly, as settlers were arriving from New England to help Kansas become a free state by being there to vote on its status.

After the American Civil War, in 1867 the majority of members who had not become citizens (or who said they wanted to be part of the tribe) was removed again, this time to 20,000 acres (81 km2) in Oklahoma.

Wanting to purchase the cemetery land, developers negotiated with its legal owners, leaders of the Wyandotte Nation in Indian Territory (which became Oklahoma).

Nearby had been built the Carnegie Library and the Brund Hotel, and the Scottish Rites Masonic Temple was under reconstruction following a fire.

Lyda Conley and her two sisters of Kansas City launched a public relations and legal defense to prevent the sale.

In the course of this, in 1909 Lyda Conley became the first Native American woman attorney to be admitted to the bar of the US Supreme Court, as she carried the case there.

In 1916, with the aid of Kansas Senator Charles Curtis, a multi-racial member of the Kaw tribe and future Vice President of the United States, Congress passed legislation to protect the Huron Indian Cemetery as a park.

The city and the Wyandotte Nation have continued to consider development on the site that would require removal of Wyandot remains.

It has been seeking federal recognition in recent years and strongly supports maintenance of the cemetery as an historic site.

In 1991, the Kansas City government installed more than 70 new grave markers in consultation with the tribe and archaeologists, to replace some that had been put in during the 1970s.

[5] In 1994, the chief of the Wyandotte Nation evaluated the Huron Park Cemetery as a possible location of a gaming casino, a major revenue generator for Native American tribes.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) noted that no action could occur without substantial consultation with various agencies and, most importantly, consent from the lineal descendants of individuals interred at the Huron Park Cemetery, as required in the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 1990.