Blue Mounds State Park
| Blue Mounds State Park | |
| Minnesota State Park | |
Sioux Quartzite bedrock in Blue Mounds State Park
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| Country | United States |
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| State | Minnesota |
| County | Rock |
| Location | Luverne |
| - elevation | 1,608 ft (490 m) |
| - coordinates | 43°42′24″N 96°11′13″W / 43.70667°N 96.18694°WCoordinates: 43°42′24″N 96°11′13″W / 43.70667°N 96.18694°W |
| Area | 1,567 acres (634 ha) |
| Biome | Central tall grasslands |
| Founded | 1937 |
| Management | Minnesota Department of Natural Resources |
  Location of Blue Mounds State Park in Minnesota
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Blue Mounds State Park WPA/Rustic Style Historic Resources
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Upper Dam and Upper Mound Lake, constructed 1938
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| Location | Mound Township |
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| Coordinates | 43°43′2″N 96°11′21″W / 43.71722°N 96.18917°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 # | 89001657 |
| Added to NRHP | 1989-10-25 |
Blue Mounds State Park is a state park of Minnesota, USA, in Rock County near the town of Luverne. It protects an American bison herd which grazes on one of the state's largest prairie remnants.
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.
The park's bison herd began in 1961 with the purchase of three animals from Fort Niobrara National Wildlife Refuge in Nebraska. Today there are over 100 bison in the park. To keep age and sex ratios close to that of a natural herd, individuals are sold in a fall auction. The bison range is fenced off, and visitors are warned not to approach when these strong and unpredictable animals are near the fenceline.
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