Pillsbury Point State Park is located in

Arnolds Park, Iowa Arnolds Park is a city in Dickinson County, Iowa, Dickinson County, Iowa, United States. The population was 1,110 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, a decline from the 1,162 population in the 2000 United States Census, 2000 census. Geo ...

, United States. It is Iowa's smallest state park and unlike the others, it is an urban park. with At , it is a narrow park that extends along a point of land into

West Okoboji Lake West Okoboji Lake (sometimes known as West Lake Okoboji) is a natural body of water, approximately in area, in Dickinson County in northwestern Iowa in the United States. It is part of the chain of lakes known as the Iowa Great Lakes. The are ...

adjacent to private summer houses. The overlook at the north end of the park was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1990. The historic designation includes walkways along the lake, stone steps, stone benches, and property boundary markers.

History

Pillsbury Point was the location of the

Spirit Lake Massacre The Spirit Lake Massacre (March 8–12, 1857) was an attack by a ''Wahpekute'' band of Santee Sioux on scattered Iowa frontier settlements during a severe winter. Suffering a shortage of food, the renegade chief Inkpaduta (Scarlet Point) led 14 S ...

(1857) in which forty settlers were killed and four women were taken hostage by the Dakota tribe. Graves for several victims, a monument (1895), and the Gardner cabin are adjacent to the park. The Rev. Samuel Pillsbury, for whom the park is named, owned the property in the 1860s. H.H. Lantz developed the property into a recreation area in the 1890s. His widow, Florence B. Lantz, and two other heirs, Miriam L. and John I. Cross, donated the property to the state of

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...

in 1928. Between October 1933 and March 1934

Civilian Conservation Corps The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was a voluntary government work relief program that ran from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried men ages 18–25 and eventually expanded to ages 17–28. The CCC was a major part of ...

(CCC) Company 778 built the walkways along the lake, the two sets of stone steps, and the five stone benches. In 1934 Pillsbury Point was re-designated as a state preserve, which were to protect areas of historic or scientific interest rather than recreational purposes. It was put under the jurisdiction of

Gull Point State Park Gull Point State Park is a state park of Iowa, United States, located on West Okoboji Lake in the city of Wahpeton. It is the primary state park unit in the Iowa Great Lakes region. Two areas of the park were listed as nationally recognized h ...

in 1936. In 1940 it was reclassified again as a historic-archaeological park based on the National Park Service's system. By the late 20th century the park became known as an access. Pillsbury Point State Park overlook

The historic significance of the overlook is derived from its landscape-based approach to park development, which reached its peak during the 1930s. Pillsbury Point is almost entirely landscape development as there are no buildings located here. The stone benches constructed by the CCC are tucked into the slopes along the shore so as not to intrude on the natural setting. Four of the benches are composed of mortared

rubble stone Rubble stone is rough, uneven building stone not laid in regular courses. It may fill the core of a wall which is faced with unit masonry such as brick or ashlar. Analogously, some medieval cathedral walls are outer shells of ashlar with an inn ...

backs and seats with a stone base in front of them. The fifth bench is also composed of mortared rubble stone, but is vaguely U-shaped and has no base in front of it. The two sets of steps are likewise mortared rubble stone. The six concrete property boundary markers delineate the property line on the south side of the overlook. There are twelve more markers that mark the parks boundary, but are outside the historic designation area.

References

{{authority control Protected areas established in 1933 Civilian Conservation Corps in Iowa Rustic architecture in Iowa Protected areas of Dickinson County, Iowa Buildings and structures in Dickinson County, Iowa National Register of Historic Places in Dickinson County, Iowa State parks of Iowa Park buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Iowa 1933 establishments in Iowa