Flandrau State Park

About Flandrau State Park

The gently flowing Big Cotonwood River flows through the southern park and attracts many visitors in the summer.

Hikers and cross-country skiers can look forward to a variety of trails, such as the Big Cotonwood ski area and the Mountain Trail. The terrain is varied and offers many opportunities for hiking, cross-country skiing and mountain biking. Visit the historic stone buildings built by crews of the Works Progress Administration (EPA) in the 1930s.

Flandrau is located on the eastern edge of the Minnesota River Country, and the vegetative feature is the meadow. Dakota's inhabitants thrived in the prairie, interspersed with wildflowers, grasses and other native plant and animal species. Today extensive agriculture has replaced prairies, but there are still vegetatives and specialities such as meadows and a large number of native plants and animals.

In Flandrau visitors can enjoy a varied landscape that includes heavily forested rivers, meadows, grasslands, prairies, wetlands and grassland. The main typology of the landscape is floodplains and forests; the natural beauty and habitats for birds and wildlife are ensured by a variety of flora and fauna and a wide range of animal species.

The sandstone, which was deposited millions of years ago on the great sea that once covered North America, is covered with glacial material. The rocks, sand, clay and gravel, melted by melting glaciers during the Ice Age, form the valley, which is one of the largest and most diverse natural landscapes of its kind in the world. The exposed sandstones are to be seen in the Flandrau State Park and in other parts of Germany and the USA.

Originally named after the river that flows through the Flandrau, it was the seat of the first office of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Several buildings in the park are beautiful examples of the EPA's architectural work. White-tailed deer and the many bird species found in forested lowland rivers are found in F Landraau State Park.

The old EPO camp is used as a modern group centre in the park, and the camp was used as a German POW camp in the 1940s and during World War II. At the same time, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) took control of F Landraau State Park and built a dam in the park.

The rest of the dam, including the overflow, was removed after being damaged by floods in 1947, 1965 and 1969.

The river now flows freely through the park and the state parliament renames it "Flandrau," in honor of its former name F Landraau State Park (Flandrau).

He was a co-author of the first Minnesota Constitution and a member of the Minnesota First Supreme Court. He also played a prominent role in New Ulm during the US-Dakota conflict of 1862 and also in the Dakota War.

Walk the 1.5-mile trail from the entrance to Minnesota State Park to the St. Croix River Trailhead and then along the riverbank to Farmington Park.

The entrance to the park is on the right west side of Summit Avenue, turn left, then left to the south and you will reach the entrance to the park, which is located at the corner of Park Avenue and Summit Street in Farmington Park, south of Interstate 94.