The St. Louis Board of Aldermen on the floor adopted Resolution 109, recognizing the Osage Nation Sugarloaf Mound Preservation Plan and formally acknowledging the nation’s ancestral rights to the site in the city’s Eighth Ward.

The resolution matters because it recognizes the sovereignty and historical connection of the Osage Nation to land inside St. Louis and confirms recent transfers of properties on the mound that the city and the nation say will allow preservation work and development of an interpretive center.

Alderwoman from the eighth, sponsor of the resolution, told the board the measure “recogniz[es] the sovereignty of the Osage Nation with ancestral rights to a sacred site in the Eighth Ward” and called the effort “one of preservation and partnership.” She described Sugarloaf Mound as “the last intact mound and the oldest man made structure in the city of Saint Louis.”

Mayor Kara Spencer spoke at the dais and said, “It is critical to preserve Sugarloaf Mound and what it represents,” and announced an official proclamation tied to the preservation effort. She thanked the Osage Nation Historic Preservation Office, Joan Heckenberg and the Kappa Psi Saint Louis graduate chapter for transferring property on the mound to the Osage Nation, and named Counterpublic and other local organizers for their roles.

Norman Akers, an Osage elder and artist who led the opening reflection earlier in the session, was present to accept the resolution on behalf of the Osage Nation. He and other Osage representatives were acknowledged repeatedly in the discussion; the board noted that the nation and local partners will pursue the Sugarloaf Mound Preservation Plan and an interpretive center using the transferred properties.

There was no competing motion or recorded opposition when the board voted to adopt the resolution. An alderwoman moved to place the resolution en banc; the motion carried and the clerk recorded that every member of the board signed on as a cosponsor before the final adoption vote. The president declared, “Motion carries. Resolution 109 has officially been adopted.”

Background details offered during the presentation included the board’s statement that more than a hundred mounds once existed in the area and that Sugarloaf is the only intact mound remaining in the city. The transcript records expressions of gratitude from Osage representatives and local partners but does not record a specific funding appropriation or implementation timeline in the hearing on the resolution.

The board invited the resolution’s sponsors, Osage representatives and the mayor to join for photographs on the chamber steps following adoption. The resolution is ceremonial and declaratory in nature; the transcript does not record any transfer of municipal property or immediate budget action tied to the measure.