OAK GROVE STATE PARK MARKS 100 YEARS

Historical records place trappers, early explorers, and surveyors at the “fork,” otherwise known as the confluence of the Sioux and Rock Rivers near today’s Oak Grove Park. But early settlers in western Sioux County generally ignored the forested area and rough, non-tillable hills. In 1889, two would-be miners began a small exploration of the area, mining low grade coal from a pit. It was not profitable and the two left after a year.

Maybe moonshiners made more money in the forest? In April 1921, two local schoolboys, Lawrence Meeter and Philip Smith, discovered an abandoned still when they were out hunting at Oak Grove. In a gully, they found a copper boiler with a sealed top, coils, a cooler and three barrels partly filled with mash.

However, local civic leaders saw the hills and gullies and trees as so much more. “A movement has been launched by the Hawarden Booster Club for the establishment of a state park along the Sioux River,” said a Hawarden Independent article in November 1923. Six years earlier, the Iowa Legislature passed a state parks bill which provided authority to the State Board of Conservation to secure natural areas statewide and preserve the land as near as possible to their original state.

The Hawarden Booster Club believed a state park at Oak Grove would be an asset for the region and state. State Rep. G.L. Venard of Hawarden was the lead advocate and he appeared before the Board of Conservation in Des Moines. The Hawarden boosters spent the winter of 1923-24 crystallizing favorable sentiment amongst the other Sioux County communities.

The large shelter in the lower part of Oak Grove Park, probably around 1970.

Plethora Of Flora And Fauna

Plant life in Oak Grove in the 1920s was described this way: “Sunny slope of the prairie is covered with a beautiful lot of prairie flowers, small beard tongue, cessile yellow paint brush, pomme de prairie of the voyagers, pasque flowers, loco weed, cow vetch, yellow and orange puccoon, bird foot violet, etc., sumac, basswood, slippery elm, red haws, American elm, green ash, soft maples, cottonwood and bur oak.”

On June 12, 1924, members of the State Board of Conservation inspected the proposed park area. Local proponents from Hawarden, Rock Valley, Hudson and Sioux Center were onsite to demonstrate broad local support. In July, the board authorized an expenditure of $8,000 in state funds provided the citizens of the county raised a portion of the purchase price and that the land could be secured at a satisfactory price. The county’s $3,000 share was raised from personal donations.

The Prairie Wood Nature Center was added to the park in 2020.

The Deer Run Campground at Oak Grove, located in the upper part of the park.

Members of First Baptist Church singing along the banks of the Big Sioux River in September 2021. (No one was baptized in the river.)

A Favorite Gathering Place

By the spring of 1925 and continuing up to today, reports appeared in many local newspapers about families, ladies’ organizations, church groups, farm associations and others who made trips to Oak Grove for picnics, camping or religious revivals.

More than 600 visitors came for the dedication of the new state park in May 1926. James Younie Sr. was appointed park custodian. During the summers, Younie lived in a shack in the grove near the river. A permanent custodian’s home was constructed in the 1930s and it is still occupied by an SCCB park ranger.

Upgrades And The Prairie Woods Nature Center

Oak Grove Park has seen many enhancements and upgrades over the years, including the purchase of additional land. Other additions included more open shelters, two all-weather enclosed shelters and a modern campground. In recent years, SCCB has added four cabins in the state park and one cabin at the Big Sioux Park. All the cabins have electricity, heating and air conditioning, and modern restroom facilities with a shower.

One of the greatest enhancements to the park was the addition of Prairie Woods Nature Center which opened in 2020. This environmental education center is a favorite field trip destination for hundreds of local school children each year. The nature center offers an opportunity to gain a better understanding of Sioux County’s geology, environment and history. Interactive exhibits provide information on different habitats including wetland, prairie and forest.

The state of Iowa owns the 101 acres of Oak Grove State Park. Immediately adjacent is 330 acres owned by Sioux County and known as Big Sioux Park. SCCB manages all of it, which is collectively known as Oak Grove Park. Camping or cabin reservation information can be found at www.siouxcountyparks.org.

Celebration Details

The official centennial celebration of Oak Grove State Park’s founding will take place on Saturday, June 22. The Prairie Woods Nature Center will be open from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Programs will be presented during the day. A “cruise through the campgrounds” will start at 4 p.m., ending with a Classic Car Show & Shine on the banks of the river. From 5-8 p.m., there will be food trucks, games and live music by the Singer Family Band. An outdoor movie will be shown beginning at 8:30 p.m.

Sources

• Sioux County Conservation Board. www.siouxcountyparks.org

• Hawarden Independent via Newspapers.com and Sioux County Digital Archives (4-7-21, 11-15-23, 6-5-24, 6-19-24, 11-9-24, 11-19-25, 5-9-29)

• Article by SCCB executive officer Gerald Schiefen published in the1987 book Hawarden Centennial: 1887-1987. Material gathered from the Hawarden Chronicle.

• Iowa State University Library Online.

• Siouxland: A History of Sioux County, Iowa, by G. Nelson Nieuwenhuis. Published 1983 by The Sioux County Historical Society.