[2] When the government took over operation of the school in 1898, they instituted a "progressive education," including music programs, a literary society, and a baseball team.

When it was to be superseded, a grassroots effort gained establishment of a public college at this campus: the University of Minnesota Morris opened in 1960.

The Morris Industrial School for Indians was founded in 1887 by a group of nuns from the Sisters of Mercy order under the leadership of Mary Joseph Lynch.

Lynch had served with Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War before starting industrial schools for youth in the United States.

The parish priest of Morris, Minnesota, invited the order led by Lynch to start a parochial school for girls in the town.

By 1895, the staff size was 25 (24 nuns and 1 male supervisor) and the enrollment was 103 students; it was the largest Indian boarding school in Minnesota.

[7] Lynch maintained traditional practices and curriculum of a largely parochial education; however, unlike some other Catholic boarding schools, she did not allow corporal punishment.

"[9] The Office of Indian Affairs agreed to purchase the school, as it intended to take over operations from the Sisters of Mercy, but paid only half the price they asked.

A physical plant and sewage system were constructed, and the government acquired significant farmland for agricultural education at the school, as the region was primarily rural.

The player to have the most prominent career in baseball was 1904 graduate Charles Robert Roy (a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe).

After graduating from Morris, Charlie Roy went to pitch for the Carlisle Indian Industrial School for two years and then signed a professional contract with the Philadelphia Phillies.

The Morris Industrial School for Indians Dormitory was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 for having local significance in the themes of education, politics/government, and social history.

[21] It was nominated for its association with late-19th-century federal Indian policy, which the Dawes Act of 1887 shifted from isolating native people on reservations to a practice of cultural assimilation.

When a historic district of surviving West Central School buildings was added to the National Register in 2002, the 1899 dormitory/music hall was listed as a contributing property.