Good Shepherd Mission

The first Episcopal service was conducted in Fort Defiance in 1889 by Bishop John Miles Kendrick. Intermittent Episcopal mission efforts continued until 1894 when Miss Eliza Thackara accepted the appointment as superintendent of a hospital mission at Fort Defiance. The hospital, the first serving the Navajo, was completed in 1897. When the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs) built a hospital the Good Shepherd Hospital specialized in treating trachoma and eventually became an orphanage and boarding school for rural students attending the public schools. The building still stands and now serves the community as The Rev. Margaret Hardy Parish Hall.

For more information please contact:

Good Shepard Mission

Kit Carson Drive
PO Box 618
Fort Defiance, AZ 86504

(928) 729-2322

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