Fort Snelling State Park

Fort Snelling State Park is a state park of the U.S. state of Minnesota, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers. For many centuries, the area of the modern park has been of importance to the Mdewakanton Dakota people who consider it the center of the Earth. The state park, which opened in 1962, is named for the historic Fort Snelling, which dates from 1820. The fort structure is maintained and operated by the Minnesota Historical Society. The bulk of the state park preserves the bottomland forest, rivers, and backwater lakes below the river bluffs. Both the state and historic fort structure are part of the Mississippi National River and Recreation Area, a National Park Service site.

As of 2005, the park hosts 400,000 visitors annually and contains the restored fort, a visitor center, 18 miles (29 km) of cross-country skiing trails, 18 miles (29 km) of hiking trails, and 5 miles (8.0 km) of biking trails. These trails connect the park to the Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge, Minnehaha Park, and regional trail systems like the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway and the Big Rivers Regional Trail. Minnesota State Highway 55 crosses over the park on the Mendota Bridge, and many jets taking off and landing at the Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport fly directly over the park.

Today the bottomlands of the river confluence boast a floodplain forest of cottonwood, silver maple, green ash, wood nettle, jewelweed, and willow. There are also marshes, backwater lakes, and wet meadows. Abundant wildlife includes white-tailed deer, fox, woodchuck, badger, skunk, turkey, and coyote. Reptiles include the snapping turtle, painted turtle, soft-shelled turtle, and the non-venomous western fox snake. In 1864 a railroad was built through the area, connecting St. Paul with the riverboat landing.

At the beginning of historical times, Mdewakanton Dakota lived in this area. The confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers was to them the center of the world, or the place of first creation, known as the Bdote. In 1805 Lieutenant Zebulon Pike met with the Mdewakanton on the island between the two rivers and negotiated the purchase of land along the blufftops. The treaty site is now known as Pike Island. Fort Snelling was built between 1820 and 1825 on the land Pike acquired. The soldiers from Fort Snelling had gardens, livestock, bakery, and boat storage sheds in the low river valley. Another reality of daily life at the fort was the practice of slavery. Slavery at Fort Snelling lasted from 1820 until 1857, even though slavery was prohibited at the fort under the Missouri Compromise of 1820. In 1828, slavery reached its height at Fort Snelling, and over 30 people were enslaved. In 1830, Rachel and Courtney, two women who were enslaved at Fort Snelling, sued for their freedom in Missouri courts. Despite the Missouri Supreme Court ruling in favor of both of their cases in 1836, slavery continued at Fort Snelling.

From November 7, 1862, to November 13, 1862, immediately following the Dakota War of 1862, over 1,600 Dakota men, women, and children were forced to march from Morton, Minnesota to Fort Snelling. The Dakota were confined to a camp outside of Fort Snelling through the winter of 1862–1863, before being expelled to Nebraska. Over the winter, it is estimated that between 130 and 300 Dakota prisoners died due to malnutrition, disease, and exposure.

Further details about the history of Fort Snelling are located on a separate entry.

During the 1950s, the state government had planned to build a freeway interchange and bridge over the site of the fort, prompting concerned locals and Russell W. Fridley, director of the Minnesota Historical Society, to call a meeting to examine how to preserve the fort. Eventually, the state agreed to build a tunnel underneath the fort, thus preserving the old structures. In 1960, A.R. Nichols, a landscape architect, submitted plans for a 2,400-acre (9.7 km²) park on the site. Based on a much earlier plan, this design would become the basis for the final form of the park. This caught the interest of Thomas C. Savage, who wrote State Parks director U.W. Hella.

Hella urged Savage to form an association of interested citizens which became the Fort Snelling State Park Association, putting money and public relations effort into the promotion of the park's establishment. While there was widespread support for preserving the old fortifications, some local landowners were not enthused about plans to purchase additional lands, claiming that the price the government proposed to pay was not adequate. In response, the Park Association began to raise funds privately to buy out at least some of the owners. A second consideration was whether or not the federal government would grant the actual fort property to the state as surplus land.