Historic Prairies Region, Minnesota Attractions
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The Historic Prairies Region of Minnesota features many museums, festivals and historic sites that honor the Dakota Indians and early pioneers. These two cultures came together over 100 years ago and visitors will see the influence of both.
Lower Sioux Agency Historic Site, Morton, Minnesota
The Lower Sioux Agency was established by the US government in 1853 as an administrative center. The Agency became the scene of the first organized attack in the 1862 US-Dakota War. The Lower Sioux Agency Historic Site presents Dakota life before the reservation era and shows how the reservation system changed traditional Dakota ways of living.
Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum, Walnut Grove, Minnesota
Exhibits at the Laura Ingalls Wilder Museum are housed in an 1898 depot in Walnut Grove. They include an 1880's school chapel and an onion-domed house. The Kelton Doll Collection, including more than 250 dolls from the 1870's to modern times is displayed. Memorabilia from stars on "Little House on the Prairie" TV series are also featured.
End-O-Line Railroad Park and Museum, Currie, Minnesota
The End-O-Line Railroad Park and Museum features a model railroad display with an authentic reproduction of the Currie railroad yards as it was around the turn of the century. Other exhibits include a restored schoolhouse, water tower and general store.
Minnesota Machinery Museum, Hanley Falls, Minnesota
The Minnesota Machinery Museum is a five building complex with farm machinery, stories and artifacts on display. Visitors can tour the farm home kitchen, parlor, bedroom, a turn-of-the-century blacksmith shop, and general store. Vintage automobiles, restored gas engines, and tractors dating back to 1912 are also on display.
Pipestone, Minnesota
Pipestone (pop. 4,300) was originally the homeland of the Dakota Indians, a sacred meeting place where they quarried the soft red stone for use in ceremonial pipes. The town's historic district contains buildings, built between 1889 and 1910, using the pinkish-purple Sioux quartzite.
Pipestone National Monument
The Pipestone National Monument owes its name to the soft reddish stone from which the Indians make their ceremonial pipes. Each tribe has access to this sacred site, where peace must prevail; and even today only Indians are allowed to quarry the stone (an aluminum silicate, known as catlinite after the pioneer and painter of Indian life George Catlin). Examples of Indian pipes can be seen in the Upper Midwest Indian Cultural Center.
Pipestone County Museum
The Pipestone County Museum is part of Pipestone County Historical Society. The Society was organized in 1880. The Museum was opened in 1967 in the City's former City Hall building, an impressive structure built in 1896 out of locally quarried Sioux Quartzite.
Fort Ridgely State Park, Fairfax, Minnesota
Fort Ridgely State Park near Fairfax includes the remains of Fort Ridgley which was built in 1853. Camping, hiking, horseback riding, and cross-country skiing are available.
Granite Falls, Minnesota
Granite Falls (pop. 3,000) was established when the powerful potential of the falls on the Minnesota River was discovered. Exposed granite, as the town name suggests, dates back to the oldest era in geologic history.
Upper Sioux Agency State Park
The Upper Sioux Agency State Park contains the site of the Upper Sioux or Yellow Medicine Agency. The park offers prairie knolls, bluffs and wooded slopes with opportunity for horseback riding, hiking, skiing, and snowmobiling.
Yellow Medicine County Historical Museum
The Yellow Medicine County Historical Museum features pioneer and American Indian artifacts including 8,000-year-old bison bones as well as one of the oldest exposed granite rocks. A log pioneer home and church are located behind the museum.
Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic Site, Jeffers, Minnesota
The Jeffers Petroglyphs Historic Site features American Indians carvings called petroglyphs, of humans, deer, elk, buffalo, turtles, thunderbirds, atlatls and arrows to tell a story that spans 5,000 years.
Luverne - Blue Mounds State Park and Interpretive Center
Blue Mounds State Park supports the bison herd that graze on the prairie grasses. The interpretive center was once the home of author Frederick Manfred and features natural history exhibits including wildlife, geology and history.
Montevideo, Minnesota
Montevideo (pop. 5,400) was named for its similarities to Montevideo, Uruguay and settled largely by Scandinavian immigrants. Montevideo is located near the confluence of the Minnesota and Chippewa Rivers.
Lac Qui Parle State Park
Lac qui parle is a French for "lake that speaks." The Lac Qui Parle State Park features a lake that is a stop-over for thousands of migratory Canada geese and other waterfowl. Trails can be explored by foot or horseback. Historic Fort Renville and Lac qui Parle mission sites are located within the park.
Historic Chippewa City
Historic Chippewa City is a 24 building complex near Montevideo that includes a dress shop, law office, print shop, fire department, post office, a schoolhouse and village church.
New Ulm, Minnesota
New Ulm (pop. 13,500) was founded in 1854 by German emigrants, the town has distinct European essence. The town was nearly destroyed during the 1862 Dakota Conflict. Flandrau State Park is located mainly within the city limits.
Brown County Historical Museum
The Brown County Historical Museum occupies the former 1910 New Ulm Post Office, a German-style building in New Ulm. Exhibits include American Indian and Dakota Conflict artifacts as well as items belonging to European immigrants of the area.
Harkin General Store
The Harkin General Store in New Ulm is a restored country store with period merchandise on display. The store was forced to close with much of the unsold inventory still on the shelves when the railroad passed by the small town.
Hermann's Monument
Hermann's monument and statue in New Ulm is 102ft/31m high and is commonly known as "Hermann the German". The monument was erected to honor the memory of Hermann, the Cherusci, who freed the German people from the Roman oppression.
Lind House
The Queen Anne Victorian house was built in 1887 by John and Alice Lind. John Lind was elected as Minnesota's 14th governor in 1899. The house has been restored and contains Lind family memorabilia.
Way of the Cross
The Way of the Cross on Loretto Hill in New Ulm was constructed in 1903. It features statues depicting Christ's journey to the cross, and a chapel at the top of the hill.
Sod House on the Prairie, Sanborn, Minnesota
Two sod houses located northeast of Sanborn are from the 1880s and represent the rich and poor settler, present the lifestyle of author Laura Ingalls Wilder and her family.
Jackson County Historical Museum, Lakefield, Minnesota
The Jackson County Historical Museum in Lakefield features displays on the history of the area.
Nobles County Pioneer Village, Worthington, Minnesota
Nobles County Pioneer Village in Worthington contains 40 buildings that reflect life as it was in the late 19th and early 20th C.
