The First Land Office was built in 1854 and contained the land patent office of H.B. Smith and his brother, who were the first land patent agents in Kansas Territory. The Trail of Death plaque, a memorial to the Pottawatomie Indians, who were forced to leave their ancestral lands in Indiana and settle in the Osawatomie area in 1838, is on this site. The Osawatomie Historical Society operates a tourist information center during the summer in the land office.