Blue Mounds State Park
Blue Mounds State Park is a state park in Rock County, Minnesota, United States, near the town of Luverne. It protects an American bison herd which grazes on one of the state's largest prairie remnants.
| Blue Mounds State Park | |
|---|---|
Sioux Quartzite bedrock in Blue Mounds State Park | |
Location of Blue Mounds State Park in Minnesota Blue Mounds State Park (the United States) | |
| Location | Rock, Minnesota, United States |
| Coordinates | 43°42′24″N 96°11′13″W |
| Area | 1,567 acres (6.34 km2) |
| Elevation | 1,608 ft (490 m) |
| Established | 1937 |
| Governing body | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources |
Blue Mounds State Park WPA/Rustic Style Historic Resources | |
U.S. National Register of Historic Places | |
Upper Dam and Upper Mound Lake, constructed 1938 | |
| Location | Mound Township |
| Coordinates | 43°43′2″N 96°11′21″W |
| Area | 60 acres (24 ha) |
| Built | 1937–1942 |
| Architect | National Park Service, Minnesota Division of Drainage & Waters, Works Progress Administration |
| Architectural style | NPS Rustic |
| MPS | Minnesota State Park CCC/WPA/Rustic Style MPS |
| NRHP reference No. | 89001657 |
| Added to NRHP | 1989-10-25 |
The state park is named after a linear escarpment of Precambrian Sioux Quartzite bedrock which, although pink in color, is said to have appeared blueish in the distance to early settlers. Parts of the cliff are up to 100 feet (30 m) high. Unusual in the surrounding prairie landscape, they are a popular site for rock climbing.
The park also preserves a 1,250-foot-long (380 m) line of rocks aligned by Plains Indians which marks where the sun rises and sets on the spring and fall equinoxes. It also has a small reservoir for swimming, the only lake in Rock County. The park's interpretive center was once the home of the author Frederick Manfred.
Four structures and one building in the park, built by the Works Progress Administration in the 1930s, are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.